The housing market has reached the turning point of its current slowdown according to figures released by the new homes website, SmartNewHomes.com.

The average price of a new home in the UK last month was £256,143, down 8.1% since the same time last year – the most significant price decrease of the current slowdown which has seen consistent negative annual growth since last October.

However month-on-month, prices were down just 0.3% the smallest monthly decrease seen this year, indicating the stabilisation of the current slowdown and a possible return to rising prices in the next few months.

David Bexon, chief executive of SmartNewHomes.com, comments: "These figures give further weight to the general consensus that the housing market, as well as the wider economy, are in fragile states and need handling with care. Retail sales are at their lowest level for a decade, the rate of inflation is accelerating, and rapid house price growth across much of the country is a distant memory."

"However with the predicted election result confirmed and the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee once again making the sensible decision to maintain interest rates at their current 4.75% level, house buyers are ready to start returning to the market."

"A stabilisation in the current slowdown is already being hinted at by the consistently diminishing negative monthly price changes and positive monthly growth could be a realistic possibility within the next couple of months – in reverse from the decreases we have seen in ten of the last twelve months."

Regional variations

Regionally, prices are already starting to increase in many of the areas which tend to set the course for UK house prices, i.e. the South West, South East, East Anglia and West Midlands, all of which experienced price increases over the last several months. In contrast, the North West, North and East Midlands have seen average new home prices decrease and Wales replaced Scotland as the cheapest region in the UK. London remained the most expensive despite price falls of around 6.6% in the last six months.

Apartments on top

The percentage of new apartments available to buy increased once again, completing six months of consistent increases which has seen the proportion rise from less than third (32%) of all new homes at the end of last summer, to a dominant majority of almost two thirds (57%) last month. In relation, the percentage of detached homes fell to a new low of less than 30%.

David Bexon comments: "With Labour now given another four years to implement their policies on regeneration and sustainable communities we can expect to see further changes in where, when and how our new homes our built. The government have now got the mandate for change and after all the talk of building more homes and streamlining planning systems it is time to grasp the nettle and put those statements into action."

"Policies need to be implemented at a local level to allow house builders to build the houses people want to live in, not the houses that the government wants them to live in. The affordable sector is being addressed by the government and house builders’ own initiatives but not everyone wants to live in an affordable home."

"Aspirational homes are still needed, homes where families have space to live. The current generation of growing families should not be constrained by the misguided policy priorities of central government and should be given the same opportunities as previous generations."