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House prices fell 0.3 per cent in June
Guest Author:
Owain ThomasDespite the monthly drop in prices, there has been an overall rise of 5.7% over the last year
The average UK house price dipped by 0.3 per cent in June to stand at £237,110, according to the latest house price index from Halifax.
This was the sixth month-on-month fall in the last 12 months and extended the largely flat trend seen over recent months.
However, there was slightly more positive news with a 2.4 per cent rice in the three months of April to June compared to the preceding quarter.
Prices over the last quarter were also 5.7 per cent higher that the same period last year but this came against the backdrop of a particularly low growth rate in the corresponding period in 2018, impacting year-on-year comparisons.
Low mortgage rates underpin prices
Halifax managing director, Russell Galley, said: “More generally the housing market is displaying a reasonable degree of resilience in the face of political and economic uncertainty.
“Recent industry figures show demand looking slightly more stable, with mortgage approvals ticking along just above the long-term average.”
He added that one of the major restraining factors on the volume of transactions in the market continued to be the very low level of stock for sale.
“With the ongoing lack of clarity around Brexit, people will be looking for more certainty in the coming months, both to encourage them to list their property and to create the confidence needed to encourage buyers,” he continued.
“Of course, the likelihood of continued historically low mortgage rates will underpin prices in the near term.”
Mortgage Advice Bureau head of lending Brian Murphy said: “The annual change figure may, yet again, lead some to raise the issue of data volatility.
“However, conversely one could argue that the Halifax does have a significant client base in the Midlands and North, where markets and prices are performing far better than London and the South East, hence this may be artificially influencing the topline average figures and therefore this significant change can be substantiated, but perhaps not across all regions.”