For the first time in eight months, annual growth in UK house prices accelerated, lender Halifax revealed with its latest figures.
The report states that property prices have risen by 6% compared to one year ago, meaning the cost of a typical home is now at £218,002.
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Nationwide, Halifax’s House Price Index rival, only attributed November a growth of 4.4%.
For the year overall, annual house price growth peaked in March when it reached the 10% mark.
Halifax housing economist, Martin Ellis, said: “House prices in the three months to November were 0.8% higher than in the previous quarter. This increase followed little movement in prices on this quarterly measure in both September and October. The annual rate of growth also increased, rising for the first time for eight months, from 5.2% in October to 6.0%.
“Despite November’s pick-up, the annual rate has been on a steady downward trend in recent months since reaching a peak of 10.0% in March. Heightened affordability pressures, resulting from a sustained period of house price growth in excess of earnings rises, appear to have dampened housing demand, contributing to the slowdown in house price inflation. Very low mortgage rates and an ongoing, and acute, shortage of properties available for sale should help support price levels although annual house price growth may slow over the coming months.”
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Prices saw an increase of 0.2% compared with October, and additionally went up by 0.8% in the three months to the end of November compared to the previous quarter.
Jonathan Hopper, managing director of Garrington Property Finders, said: “The Halifax’s market confidence tracker illustrates perfectly the ‘business as usual’ stoicism. It found consumer confidence in the housing market is at its lowest level for three years, but that nearly four times as many people expect prices to rise as think they will fall in the next year.”
