London house prices 'recovering'
BBC Personal Finance Correspondent tweets:
Housing market
Kevin Peachey
Personal finance reporter
The latest figures show the biggest drop in prices in the last year was in the North East of England.
Read moreHouse price growth lowest since September 2012
House prices in southern England fell by 0.9% in the year to July 2019, compared with growth of 1.8% in the Midlands and 1.7% in northern England, the Office for National Statistics said.
Average house prices in the UK increased by 0.7% in the year to July 2019, down from 1.4% in June 2019. This is the lowest annual rate since September 2012, when it was 0.4%, the statistics body added.
The industry trade body says providing this information should now be standard practice.
Read moreHousing market 'missing autumn bounce'
The asking price for the average UK home fell by 0.2%, or £730, in September compared with August, as the housing market failed to pick up after the summer, according to property website Rightmove.
It was the first time prices have seen a month-on-month fall in September since 2010, the website said.
“Many have got used to living in the jaws of uncertainty since the referendum over three years ago and have been getting on with their lives and housing moves, " said Rightmove’s Miles Shipside.
“However, as we approach yet another Brexit deadline, there are signs that the increasing gnashing of teeth is causing some to hesitate.
"The autumn bounce normally kicks off at the same time as kids go back to school, but this year it’s a late starter at best, and if uncertainty persists then the autumn term could be missed altogether, and its activities be delayed until the new year.
Sarah Lee
BBC News
Life on the east London estate built 100 years ago was "an adventure away from disease and plague".
Read more
Jordan Davies
BBC News
The problem is described as a "wasted resource" as so many people need affordable homes.
Read moreGalliford Try jumps
Galliford Try's shares had roared higher in early trading after Bovis Homes revealed its £1.1bn for its housing arms.
The shares are now up over 6% -leading the gainers in the FTSE 250 - but as the graph shows still below recent highs.
Bovis Homes shares are down 4.5%.
Bovis offers cash sweeter
Back to that attempt by Bovis Homes to buy the housing arm of Galliford Try.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, calculates that the £1.08bn being offered now hardly differs from the sums offered in May when the deal fell apart.
"So what’s changed? £300m in cash has sweetened the deal for Galliford it appears, with the previous offer having made up entirely of new Bovis shares.
"That new cash element will be a welcome injection for the newly reorganised Galliford construction division, which has been struggling after problems with the Aberdeen bypass and the Queensferry crossing."
And, he recalls, it's a far cry from when Bovis was fending off the advances of Galliford Try two years ago.
Bovis in record profits
Bovis Homes - which has revived a possible tie-up with the housing building of Galliford Try as mentioned earlier - has also published its results.
The housebuilder has reported record profits in the first half of £72.4m, up 20%.
Private sales rate increased 15% and it said Help to Buy "remains an important scheme" with 25% of total completions using the government scheme in the first half.
Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive, said: "We delivered an excellent first half performance with a significant step up in our sales rate, record profits and a further strengthening of our balance sheet."