Property Press Online

What Have Halifax Found?

Halifax, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, has said that in November UK house prices rose, despite the uncertainty around Brexit and the general election.

The market saw the largest increase since February of 1% making the average price of a home £234,625. This means that the property market has experienced a minor recovery following 2 months of drops in prices. The result is that home prices are 2.1% higher than a year ago.

Since the start of 2019, average house prices have increased £3,904 and are predicted to continue increasing in the new year.

The managing director of Halifax, Russel Galley, has said “While a degree of uncertainty remains evident, it’s also clear that buyers and sellers are responding to factors such as improved mortgage affordability and the limited supply of available properties. It is these issues which we believe will continue to underpin the resilience evident in the market for most of 2019. Over the medium term we expect the emerging trend of modest gains to continue into next year.”

What About Nationwide?

Nationwide, another mortgage lender in the UK, have said that average prices of homes increased by 0.5% in November to £215,734. This was the largest monthly rise since July 2018, and up from 0.2% in October. Although different figures to Halifax, they both show an increase in average house prices.

Annual house price growth is below 1%, where it’s been sitting for the last year. This is lower than the rate of inflation, which is 1.5%, and the rate of wage growth which is 3.6%. Prior to the Brexit vote in June 2016, annual property prices were increasing annually at around 5%.

How Are The Number Of Homes Sold Affected?

HMRC showed there was a 4.3% increase in the number of homes sold in the UK in October compared to September. This was the highest number since July 2017 at 103,680 homes. Despite this, the Bank of England claimed there was a drop in mortgage approvals of 1.8% in October compared to September.

What’s The Conclusion?

If we take into account all the findings above, we can see that house prices are recovering from the most recent months, but compared to previous years the percentage increases are much lower.

Therefore, despite house prices recovering a little in November, they are still suffering from the uncertainty around Brexit.

Interested In More About The UK’s Property Market?

Here at Property Press Online, we cover all things property; from interviews with industry leaders to the latest news. We monitor the market so you don’t have to, whilst also providing guides on property investing and tips to help you sell your home.

Here are just a few of our other posts:

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• The Average Time To Sell A Property Has Been Revealed
• What’s the average estate agent fee for your area?

Is there anything else you’d like to see us cover? Please let us know in the comments below and we’ll do our best to include it.