May figures show little change in house prices

June 16, 2024 by Brendan O'Neill

House Prices

There was very little change in the average price of a home in the UK over the course of May, according to the latest figures to be published by Halifax.

These figures show a small drop in average prices, compared to the month before. This is negligible though, at just 0.1%, and it left the average UK home price at £288,688. The price for April was £288,862.

Although there was a slight month-on-month fall in prices, the figures actually went up when looked at on an annual basis. The average price for May 2024 was 1.5% above that for the same month of last year. By comparison, the annual growth from April 2023 to April 2024 was 1.1%, which is a further sign of an improving market.

The head of mortgages for Halifax, Amanda Bryden, told FT Adviser that activity levels had stayed strong during spring. She pointed out that rising economic optimism and wage growth had helped with that.

Bryden then went on to say that:

“This has been reflected in a broadly stable picture in terms of property price movements, with the average cost of a property little changed over the last three months.”

The CEO of Propertymark, Nathan Emerson, also argued that this was a sign that the property market in the UK was getting back to where it had previously been after a tough period.

Mortgage advisors who have completed the CeMAP course will be pleased to see signs of market health, but prices remain out of reach for many people.