Halifax Reports a 1.2% Rise in UK House Prices

UK mortgage lender – Halifax – has just published its latest overview of UK house prices for October 2009, which marked the 4th successive month of house price rises. Moreover, the research of the market showed that the increase registered in October was almost twice as expected.
Let us remind that UK house prices increased by 2.9% since January 2009; market analysts expected to see a 0.7% rise in house prices last month; however, house prices jumped by 1.2%, leaving an average British house priced at £165,528.
Meanwhile, housing economist at Halifax, Mr. Martin Ellis, highlighted that house prices in the 3rd quarter of 2009 were still 4.7% lower than during the same period last year. He also added that the lender mainly attributed house price increases to lack of property supply and increased consumer demand rather than to market recovery.
Commenting on the yearly changes in UK house prices, Mr. Ellis marked that house prices grew by 7.1% from the level they stood in April 2009, and that increased consumer demand can be easily explained by low mortgage rates and house prices. Mr. Ellis also claimed that Halifax has evidence suggesting that more homeowners are planning to put their houses on sale in the near future, and this will definitely change the pace, at which house prices are rising.
Earlier, we have reported that Nationwide – another British lender – said that UK house prices grew by 0.4% in October 2009; the fact is not surprising as the figures published by Nationwide and Halifax rarely coincide. As such, Nationwide has been reporting house price rises for the past 7 months, which compares to only 4 months, reported by Halifax.
Halifax findings got proof in the data recently published by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply.