UK house prices decline for second month
By Emma Charlton
/ Bloomberg LP |
UK house prices fell for a second month in August as high prices curbed demand and sales activity softened, according to mortgage lender Halifax. Prices slipped 0.2% after dropping 1.1% in July, Halifax said in a statement on Sept 7. In the three months through August, values grew 0.7%, the slowest quarterly pace since December 2014. From a year earlier, values increased 4.1% to an average £213,930 ($385,217), while the three-month annual rate of growth slowed to the least since 2013.
While Halifax did not mention whether Britain’s vote to leave the European Union was a factor in the August decline, last month it said it was too early to tell what the effect would be. The most recent data from the Bank of England showed mortgage approvals slowed in July and the central bank has said both housing transactions and house price inflation “may decline further”.
Halifax says house price gains outpacing earnings in UK is expected to constrain demand, curbing price growth
“House price growth continued the trend of the past few months in August with a further moderation in both the annual and quarterly rates of increase,” says Martin Ellis, an economist at Halifax. “There are also signs of a softening in sales activity.”
House price gains outpacing earnings is expected to constrain demand, curbing price growth, he says.
“Housing market activity is likely to be limited over the coming months, and prices will be increasingly pressurised as mounting uncertainty affects the economy and also constrains consumer confidence and willingness to engage in major transactions,” says Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight in London. “We suspect that business and consumer uncertainty will heighten in 2017 once the UK formally launches divorce proceedings from the EU.”
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