Increased supply has eased price growth for UK housing in the opening months of 2010. A tax break for first-time buyers could spur sales, but the market is in a holding pattern with an upcoming election that may dampen a normally active season. See the following article from Property Wire for more on this.
Residential property prices in the UK bounced back in March, rising by 1.1%, after having fallen in February, according to the latest index.
It was the eighth rise in the past nine months, taking the average price to 9.1% above the low point reached last April, the Halifax index shows. The increase partly offsets February’s 1.6% fall and takes the average value of a home to £168,521.
However, in the first three months of 2010 prices were only 0.6% higher than in the final quarter of 2009, compared with a 3.6% rise between the third and fourth quarters of last year.
Halifax housing economist, Martin Ellis, said it points towards a slowdown in house price growth.
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He said that a rise in the number of properties for sale is beginning to reduce the imbalance between supply and demand and is therefore likely to constrain the upward pressure on house prices.
The figures from the Halifax paint a different picture to those published recently by the Nationwide. The building society reported last week that UK house prices rose by 0.7% in March, but were in fact 9% higher than a year ago.
‘The Halifax data reinforces our suspicion that house prices will be erratic in 2010 and we still suspect that prices may very well be no better than flat over the year,’ said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight.
‘Although the Bank of England may well hold off from raising interest rates until 2011, the overall economic environment is still far from supportive for house prices while credit conditions remain pretty tight,’ he explained.
‘Admittedly, it remains to be seen how much support to housing market activity and prices comes from the government bringing in a stamp duty holiday for the next two years for first time buyers on all properties costing up to £250,000,’ he added.
Catherine Penman, head of research at real estate consultancy Carter Jonas, said March is historically a buoyant month for the housing market so it is no surprise to see prices rising again after a slight lull in February.
‘However, with a general election less than a month away we are likely to see prices suppressed in April when we would normally expect to see a flurry of activity post Easter. The property market is in a kind of limbo and we do not expect a clear trend to emerge until after the election when the true state of the public finances is laid bare and a clear strategy presented,’ she added.
This article has been republished from Property Wire. You can also view this article at Property Wire, an international real estate news site.
