The average UK house price is now £186,941, said the lender, which is £11,200 higher than at the start of the year. Nevertheless, annually, house prices are growing at their slowest rate since February, up 8.2% in the year to November, compared to 8.8% in October and a high of 10% back in July.
“The quarterly rate of increase has now declined for four consecutive months,” said housing economist Martin Ellis. “Receding buyer interest combined with a revival in private housing completions has brought supply and demand into better balance. These factors have in turn contributed to the easing in house price growth since the summer.”
Home sales fell below 100,000 in October for the first time in 2014, he added, though current estimates suggest that the number of houses sold in 2014 will total in excess of 1m for the second consecutive year. This is the first time since 2006 and 2007 that home sales have exceeded 1m in successive years, said the lender.
Halifax’s latest findings are broadly in line with that of rival Nationwide, which said that house prices rose by 0.3% in November, bringing annualised growth down to 8.5%.
Commenting on the Halifax figures, Howard Archer, chief economist at Global Insight said: “With housing market activity appreciably off its early-2014 highs, we suspect house prices will generally rise at a much more sedate rate over the coming months, compared to the peak double-digit annual growth rates seen earlier this year.”
However, he added: “It remains to be seen though just how much of a stimulative impact the chancellor’s reform of stamp duty has on stimulating housing market activity.”
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/dec/04/house-price-rose-november-halifax?CMP=EMCMONTXT5510I2
No comments:
Post a Comment