UK home costs ‘stay subdued’ for third successive month

Home costs remained “subdued” for a 3rd month in a row in June, as a scarcity of properties saved costs excessive, in response to the mortgage lender Halifax.

The common home worth hit £288,455 final month, down solely 0.2% on the £288,931 recorded in Might, whereas home worth development on an annual foundation remained unchanged at 1.6%.

The newest figures mark the third consecutive month that home costs have stayed comparatively steady, with a drop of solely 0.3% between April and Might, and a rise of 0.1% between March and April.

Amanda Bryden, Halifax’s head of mortgages, mentioned: “On an annual foundation, home costs posted a seventh consecutive month of year-on-year development, with the typical UK property worth now standing at £288,455.

“This continued stability in home costs – rising by simply 0.4% up to now this yr – displays a market that is still subdued, although total exercise has been recovering.

“For now, it’s the scarcity of accessible properties, slightly than demand from consumers, that continues to underpin increased costs.”

She mentioned that mortgage affordability remained the most important problem for brand new homebuyers, in addition to these coming to the tip of offers.

Evaluation by Rightmove, printed final month, discovered that month-to-month mortgage prices for first-time consumers had elevated by greater than 60% because the final normal election.

It mentioned the typical month-to-month mortgage funds for a typical first-time purchaser was now £1,075 a month, up from £667 in 2019.

Bryden mentioned that she anticipated mortgage prices to ease steadily by a mixture of decrease rates of interest, rising incomes and extra restrained development in home costs.

Mark Harris, the chief govt of the mortgage dealer SPF Personal Shoppers, mentioned: “With the large 5 lenders – Barclays, HSBC, Santander, Halifax and NatWest – lowering their mortgage charges this week, lenders proceed to jostle for enterprise as they ramp up the summer season gross sales.”

Earlier this week, Barclays introduced that it could reduce a collection of its fixed-rate mortgages by 0.27 proportion factors, whereas Halifax lowered charges by 0.19 factors and Santander reduce charges by 0.16 factors on Thursday.

Harris mentioned: “These lenders who haven’t but repriced are more likely to observe swimsuit, so long as service ranges permit, which is welcome information for hard-pressed debtors.”

London continues to have the most costly property within the nation, with the typical house within the capital costing £536,306, up 0.9% in June on a yr earlier.

The south-east of England was the second most costly space, with the typical home worth at £385,056, whereas the north-east was the least costly, with the typical property costing £172,308.

The best property worth development within the UK was in Northern Eire, with properties costing £192,457 on common, a 4% enhance on an annual foundation.