UK House Prices Log Marginal Fall May: Halifax
(RTTNews) - UK house market remained broadly stable with a marginal fall in house prices in May, data from the mortgage lender Halifax showed on Friday.
House prices dropped unexpectedly by 0.1 percent month-on-month in May after remaining flat in April. Prices were expected to grow 0.2 percent.
A typical house now costs GBP 288,688 compared to GBP 288,862 in the previous month. On a yearly basis, house price growth accelerated to 1.5 percent from 1.1 percent in the previous month. This was the sixth consecutive increase.
Halifax Head of Mortgages Amanda Bryden said UK house prices were largely 'static' in May.
Bryden observed that market activity remained resilient throughout the spring months, underpinned by robust nominal wage growth and improving confidence.
"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," said Bryden.
"While homebuyers and those remortgaging will continue to respond to changes in borrowing costs, set against a backdrop of a limited supply of available properties, the market is unlikely to see huge fluctuations in the near term," Bryden added.
Last week, data from Nationwide Building Society showed that house prices rose 0.4 percent in May after two consecutive falls.
In May, the BoE had kept its interest rate unchanged for the sixth straight meeting at 5.25 percent, which was the highest since early 2008. The bank also signaled that the first rate cut since 2020 is on the horizon.