House price growth slows

According to Rightmove's latest House Price Index, house price growth has slowed across Britain this month and fallen in London. The price of new houses put up for sale in June nudged up just £272 or 0.1% from May, compared to 3.6% the previous month. In the capital, new seller prices recorded a drop of 0.5% in June. Rightmove said buyers were put off by high values but also had more choice, with a 20% rise in the number of houses coming to market in London. Across the country, new seller numbers were up 9.6% compared with last year. The firm’s Miles Shipside said the figures showed that after months of steep rises, the London property market was "starting to run out of steam." However, he added that the legacy of rises in central London continue to ripple out to its better-value commuter-belt, fuelling price increases in all southern regions. Commenting on the figures, Lucian Cook,Savills UK head of residential research, said: "We've reached a point where the gap between London and the rest of the country is becoming irresistible to London home-owners who have for several years put off moving out. The result is more stock on the London market and slightly more realism from sellers."