Average house prices are still going up, but more slowly:  growth has fallen to its lowest annual rate since September 2012.

The latest Land Registry data shows that house prices grew just 0.7% annually in July, half the 1.4% rate in June.

House price growth was strongest in Wales where prices increased by 4.2% in the year to July, down slightly from 4.3% in the year to June.

The lowest annual growth was in the north east, where prices fell by 2.9% over the year to July, followed by the south east where prices fell by 2% over the year.

Despite the rate of price growth slowing overall, provisional transaction data from the Land Registry for May claims sales volumes were up 4.2% annually compared with estimates in May the previous year.

This is based on around 85% of the final registered transactions.

On a regional basis, provisional volume transactions increased annually during May by 2.6% in England, 19.4% in Scotland, 3.7% in Wales, and decreased by 1.8% in Northern Ireland, the Land Registry said.

Commenting on the figures, Richard Donnell, research and insight director for Zoopla, said: “The lowest house price growth for seven years is down to weaker market sentiment and the strains of poor housing affordability across southern England.

“However, there is still resilience in the housing market. Increased demand for mortgages from home buyers shows households still want to get on with their lives regardless of the noise from the Brexit debate.

“First-time buyers especially, despite the challenges they are facing, are set to be the largest buyer demographic in 2019.

“The reality is that buyers are simply being more cautious and this has reduced the impetus for house price growth. Weaker levels of house price growth are set to be a feature of the market for the rest of this year and the first half of 2020 at least.”