UK House Price Inflation At 6-month High: Halifax
March 06 2019 - 11:15PM
RTTF2
UK house price inflation accelerated more-than-expected in
February to its highest level in six months, figures from the
Lloyds Bank subsidiary Halifax and IHS Markit showed on
Thursday.
The house price index rose 2.8 percent year-on-year following a
0.8 percent increase in January. Economists had forecast 1 percent
growth in house prices. In December, house price inflation was 1.3
percent. Compared to the previous month, house price surged 5.9
percent in February, recovering from a 3 percent slump. Economists
had expected a modest gain of 0.10 percent. In the
December-February period, house prices climbed 1.8 percent from the
September-November period. The average house price rose to GBP
236,800 from GBP 223,629 in January. "House prices have grown on an
annual, quarterly and monthly basis for the first time since
October 2018," Halifax Managing Director Russell Galley said. "The
shortage of houses for sale will certainly be playing a role in
supporting prices," Galley added.
That said, the 2.8 percent house price inflation is fairly
subdued versus 2015 and 2016, when the average growth rate was 8.3
percent. "People are still facing challenges in raising a deposit
which means we continue to expect subdued price growth for the time
being," Galley said. Citing the number of sales in January of over
100,000 for the fifth consecutive month and which was right on the
five year average, Galley said the overall resilience of the market
is still evident.
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