Property News · October 6, 2017

UK houses prices grow at fastest rate in eight months; pound falls – business live


Annual house prices rose by 4% in September according to the lender Halifax, beating expectations. It was the strongest rate of growth since February and contradicted other reports of a weakening housing market Pound hits four-week low against dollar as Tory infighting builds 9.42am BST Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent and a former residential chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors:Once again, the market has proved its resilience and confounded the doom mongers. Not that there is too much to get excited about with these figures which confirm what we have seen at the coalface recently – that prices are holding up reasonably well where vendors are realistic, partly in response to a continuing shortage of stock.Sadly, we are not seeing the hoped-for autumn bounce but a steady market is more than welcome with so much uncertain economic news.The sudden surge in Halifax’s measure of house prices—up 3% over the last three months alone—is impossible to reconcile with all the other housing market evidence. Halifax’s measure is the most volatile of all the indices we track. Other surveys show that the pipeline of demand is soft; RICS has reported that new buyer enquiries have fallen in six of the last seven months. Real wages still have further to fall over the next six months and mortgage rates will rise soon in response to the increase in banks’ funding costs. In the current cautious market, prices treading water is good – and stability plus gentle growth is very good.But momentum remains patchy and what growth there is is wavering rather than sustained, and prices remain under intense pressure in several key regions. 9.23am BST Halifax said UK house prices are partly being propped up by a shortage of homes on the market: Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…UK houses prices grow at fastest rate in eight months; pound falls – business live

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