A fundamental shift in the housing market could be happening, Nationwide claimed this morning, with home ownership no longer an aspiration for many people, who prefer to rent.
Meanwhile, house prices have fallen across the whole country in the last year apart from London, latest figures from the separate Land Registry survey show.
The average property value of a home in England and Wales in June was £161,479 – down 2.5% on last year, although unchanged from May.
Only London experienced growth in the last 12 months, with an average property price of £339,480 – an increase by 0.8%. However, house prices in the capital dropped by 0.1% from May to June.
The North-East was the worst-hit region over the last year with a 7.1% fall to £101,440. In the North-West, property prices were down by 5.2% and in Wales by 4.4%.
The volume of house sales fell in the months January to April - the latest figures – dropping from a monthly average of 45,509 for the same period last year to 42,733 this year. In April itself, there were 48,704 house sales, a fall of 7% on the 52,272 in April last year.
This morning's Nationwide index did not disagree too much with the Land Registry. It said house prices in July were 0.4% down on last year, but up 0.2% since June, to stand at £168,731.
But Nationwide expressed concern about sluggish demand, with only 204,000 housing transactions in the second quarter of this year.
It posed the question as to whether a fundamental change was occurring, with a trend away from home ownership.
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