The new house price index published by Halifax shows that the annual growth in UK house prices slowed down during August compared with previous months, but still hit a record high.
Prices grew by 7.1% for the month, which represents the lowest level of growth that there has been for five months, with July having brought growth of 7.6%. However, the overall growth for August still saw the average price of a house in the UK hit £262,954, marking a new, record level.
When it comes to quarterly growth in prices, the house price index reveals that they have gone up by 1.2%, while for month-to-month growth, it is 0.7%. Wales is the part of the UK where annual growth is highest, at 11.6%, compared with just 1.3% for Greater London.
The Managing Director of Halifax, Russell Galley, suggested that ongoing high levels of demand for homes, as well as improvements to the employment market and public confidence, had helped to offset the end of the holiday on stamp duty payments.
Nigel Purves from Wayhome told Mortgage Strategy that:
“While these figures may be good news for both developers and sellers, this constant upwards spiral of house prices is bad news for the millions of reluctant renters who are increasingly being priced out of homeownership in their own areas.”
Those who have a CeMAP mortgage advisor qualification may need to use their skills to identify specialist mortgages their clients can afford, if prices continue to go up as they currently are.
