UK house prices rose slightly in March but annual price growth continues to fall, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index.
The average UK house price is now £192,970.
Month on month, prices rose by just 0.4%, although over the first three months of the year the figure was a slightly more impressive 2.6%.
Annually, prices are up by 8.1%, but this is down from a peak of 10.2% last July.
Halifax says that home sales rose for the second month in a row in February with a now traditional new year increase following a slowdown for Christmas.
[SPOTLIGHT]Mortgage approvals also increased in February, although new Bank of England figures released earlier this week showed a sharp decrease in demand for mortgages over the first three months of this year.
The number of homes on the market also continues to be fairly low.
Martin Ellis, Halifax’s housing economist, said: “The recent return to real earnings growth for the first time in several years, very low mortgage rates and last December’s stamp duty changes are supporting housing demand.
“The rising level of house prices in relation to earnings should, however, curb house price growth and activity. The annual rate of house price growth, which has continued to ease in the first quarter of 2015, is forecast to end the year at 3-5%.”
House prices over the past year
Here’s how house prices have changed over the last year according to the Halifax House Price Index.
|
Month/year |
Average house price |
Monthly change |
Quarterly change |
Annual change |
|
March 2014 |
£177,996 |
-1.4% |
2.2% |
8.7% |
|
April 2014 |
£177,524 |
-0.3% |
2.2% |
8.5% |
|
May 2014 |
£184,566 |
4% |
1.8% |
8.7% |
|
June 2014 |
£183,825 |
-0.4% |
2.3% |
8.8% |
|
July 2014 |
£186,073 |
1.2% |
3.5% |
10.2% |
|
August 2014 |
£186,101 |
0% |
2.9% |
9.7% |
|
September 2014 |
£186,898 |
0.4% |
2.7% |
9.6% |
|
October 2014 |
£186,223 |
-0.4% |
0.9% |
8.8% |
|
November 2014 |
£187,197 |
0.5% |
0.8% |
8.1% |
|
December 2014 |
£189,304 |
1.1% |
0.3% |
7.8% |
|
January 2015 |
£192,954 |
1.9% |
1.8% |
8.5% |
|
February 2015 |
£192,372 |
-0.3% |
2.6% |
8.3% |
|
March 2015 |
£192,970 |
0.4% |
2.6% |
8.1% |
Source: Halifax
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