Halifax claim U.K. house prices are up for a second month
September 11, 2009
New figures suggest that house price in the U.K. are now back to December 2008 levels. Halifax has just announced that, according to its figures, August saw a rise in the price of houses by 0.8 percent. This is the second month in a row that The U.K.’s largest lender has reported an increase.
Housing economist at Halifax, Martin Ellis said that house prices have been boosted by low interest rates and better affordability combined with the fact that there is a low level of availability of houses on the market.
Managing director of estate agents Marsh & Parsons, Peter Rollings agrees that the problems lie in part with a lack of properties coming onto the market. He suggested that a reason for this is that many are wary of taking on the high cost of moving or trying to increase their mortgage borrowing. However mortgage approvals for the month of July did hit their highest level for 15 months.
Analysts say that although the property market is definitely showing signs of being on the mend it will need a lot of care and attention if it is to fully recover. Some warn that a decision by the government to raise interest rates could once again lead to a price drop.
House builders are not faring quite so well with some saying that are having to post their worst results ever. A number of house builders have said that they have decided to move away from building apartments and back to building the family style houses that seem to be selling better.
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