(Alliance News) - Annual growth in UK house prices quickened last month, while they returned to slight growth on a monthly basis, numbers from mortgage lender Halifax showed Tuesday.
UK house price growth quickened to 1.1% year-on-year in April, Halifax said, from a 0.4% rise in March.
Prices ticked up 0.1% in April from March, having fallen 0.9% in March from February. The monthly rise in April was expected to be 0.2%, according to FXStreet-cited consensus.
The average UK house price in April was GBP288,949, up from GBP288,781 in March.
"UK house prices held steady in April, rising on a monthly basis by just...less than GBP200 in cash terms. Annual growth rose.., though this can be attributed to the base effect of weaker price growth around this time last year...While there is always much scrutiny of monthly price changes - and a degree of volatility is to be expected given current market conditions – the reality is that average house prices have largely plateaued in the early part of 2024," said Halifax Head of Mortgages Amanda Bryden.
"This reflects a housing market finding its feet in an era of higher interest rates. While borrowing costs remain more expensive than a few years ago, homebuyers are gaining confidence from a period of relative stability. Activity and demand is improving, evidenced by greater numbers of mortgage applications so far this year, while at an industry level mortgage approvals have reached their highest point in 18 months."
Looking ahead, Halifax's Bryden said she expects fixed mortgage rates to fall with "still expected" interest rate cuts from the Bank of England later this year.
"Combined with the resilience displayed by the housing market over recent months, we now expect property prices to rise modestly over the course of 2024," Bryden said.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News senior reporter
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