Posts with tag: house prices

Recently, the rate of annual house price growth has slowed for not only one month, but two. According to Halifax, the property market is described as being “subdued.”

Halifax’s May House Price Index has revealed that average house prices were up by 1.9% annually, slower than the 2.2% yearly growth recorded in April, to £224,439.

House prices are resuming to climb on a monthly basis, up 1.5% during May after a 3.1% decline in April.

It is possible that house prices are largely being sustained by a strong labour market, according to Russell Galley, Managing Director of Halifax who commented: “These latest price changes reflect a relatively subdued UK housing market.

“After a sharp rise in January, mortgage approvals have softened in the past three months. Both newly agreed sales and new buyer enquiries are showing signs of stabilisation having fallen in recent months.

“The continuing strength of the labour market is supporting house prices. In the three months to March the number of full-time employees increased by 202,000, the biggest rise in three years.

“We are also seeing pay growth edging up and consumer price inflation falling, and as a result, the squeeze on real earnings has started to ease.

“With interest rates still very low we see mortgage affordability at very manageable levels providing a further underpinning to prices.”

Remarking on the figures, Jeremy Leaf, north London Estate Agent and a former RICS Residential Chairman, said: “At first glance, these figures look disappointing with Halifax reporting annual house price growth softening in May.

“Once again, we are seeing the rather topsy turvy pattern to the housing market – up one month, down the next. It is the same on the ground – no real pattern, with buyers and sellers negotiating hard but not always successfully.

“Looking forward, we expect more of the same and possibly slightly better as we await figures reflecting the crucial spring market period.”

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Land Registry has released its UK House Price Index (HPI).

The UK’s HPI is a quarterly publication, introduced in 2016, and includes data from all residential properties purchased for market value.

Source: HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land and Property Services Northern Ireland and Office for National Statistics

Some comments on the report are as follows:

John Eastgate, Sales and Marketing Director at OneSavings Bank says: “House prices are a reflection of general levels of consumer confidence and these numbers show that whilst we’re not as confident as we were a couple of years ago, equally no one is forecasting anything disastrous for the UK economy. HPI levels in excess of 5% are arguably not sustainable, so we should welcome this more moderate figure, noting that even at this level, HPI is still comfortably in excess of wage inflation.

Set against the backdrop of insufficient levels of new housebuilding, we still therefore face a housing market characterised by increasing affordability challenges and scarcity of supply.  Last week’s research from The National Housing Federation shows the scale of the problem – the country needs 340,000 new homes each year, a figure significantly above the government target, reinforcing the crucial need for a co-ordinated housing strategy.”

Doug Crawford, CEO of My Home Move, comments; “despite the recent downbeat mood and a monthly dip in the average UK house price, today’s data paints a picture of relative strength and stability underpinning the housing market. House prices have maintained a steady growth trajectory, not just through 2018 but also over the whole of the last year. In fact, annual growth has only dipped below 4% or above 5% in two of the last fifteen months. It’s encouraging that in a time of speculation about the wider economy, house prices have continued to plot a steady course.

“What we’re left with is a growth trend in UK house prices that is somewhere below the boom years of 2014 to 2016 – which is welcome news for first-time buyers – but noticeably stronger than the 2011-2013 period, which will reassure homeowners. The general appetite for homeownership is undiminished, and we are entering the time of year ahead of the summer holiday season where good weather can help prompt aspiring buyers to put moving plans into action.

“Clearly, it will take more than rising temperatures to fix the ongoing gap between housing supply and demand. In the meantime, there is no shortage of appealing mortgage deals to help consumers, who will also be helped by recent wage growth and the Bank of England’s continuation of the 0.5% interest rate.”

Thomas Fisher, economist at PwC, said: “Today’s release from the ONS and Land Registry shows that UK house price growth continued to falter in March, while London house price inflation remained negative with the weakest growth rate since 2009.

“While house price inflation of 4.2% in the year to March 2018 is the same as the growth in house prices in the year to February, the shorter-term month-on-month price changes point towards weakness in the market. Across England, house prices in all but one region, the East of England, fell between February and March. For the UK as a whole, average house prices fell 0.2% from the month before.

“For London, annual house price inflation turned negative at -0.7%, the weakest growth rate since September 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The London housing market has been weakening ever since the Brexit vote in mid-2016 and this shows no signs of letting up yet.

“The growing consistency of house price weakening across regions means that risks are weighted to the downside for the remainder of 2018. We anticipate that UK average annual house price growth in 2018 is likely to slow to less than 4%.”