Latest figures reveal a fall in Milton Keynes house prices

The average house price in the area was £257,116 in April, Land Registry figures show – a 2.3 per cent decrease from March.

The opposite was seen across the South East, where the average price rose by 0.2 per cent, to £327,413.

Across the UK as a whole, however, a new home cost £234,612, down 0.2 per cent on the previous month.

According to the Land Registry, the latest data does not show the impact of Covid-19 on the market.

It said the process of completing a sale can take up to two months, which means the figures reflect activity before the pandemic took hold.

More recent indicators have confirmed a strong pick-up across the UK, with Halifax and Nationwide reporting month-on-month price rises in July of 1.6 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said the recent upswing could be partly due to the waiving of taxes on property purchases by governments across the UK.

In England, the Government's introduction of a Stamp Duty holiday on July 8 means buyers do not have to pay the tax on the first £500,000 of a property sale until the end of March 2021.

But Simon Rubinsohn, RICS’s chief economist, said respondents to the institution’s latest survey were more cautious about the longer-term prospects for the housing market due to the winding up of support measures for the sector, and job losses.

He said: “Significantly, some contributors are now even referencing the possibility of a boom followed by a bust.

Mr Rubinsohn added that people were showing a greater interest in properties with access to outdoor spaces due to the possibility of future lockdowns.

In Milton Keynes, house prices rose by an average of 1.2 per cent in the year to April.

The pattern was similar across the UK – annual house prices grew by an average of 2.6 per cent.

Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, also struck a note of caution about the health of the housing market in the coming months.

He said: “Many people have already lost their jobs, despite the supportive government measures, while others will be concerned that they may still end up losing their job once the furlough scheme ends.”