House prices are rising at a pace that the UK hasn’t seen since 2004. In the month of November, prices increased by roughly £3,000.
According to Halifax’s House Price Index, prices rose by 1.2% in November, marking another historic moment in what has been a wild year for the housing market and beyond. The rise is due, in no small part, to the increase in demand thanks to the government’s stamp duty holiday, and comes as very welcome news for people hoping to sell their homes.
It was only a couple of weeks ago that we were reporting that the average house price in the UK exceeded £250,000 for the first time. It currently sits at £253,000 which is a rise of £15,000 since June.
This surge in values also comes at the same time that mortgage lenders are becoming more generous and offering to lend money in return for smaller than usual deposits.
For a government that believes the housing market should be a core pillar of the nation’s economic stability and recovery plan, this all comes as very welcome news indeed because it means buyers are feeling just as motivated as sellers now are.
There are many unknowns still to come our way, including Brexit and a possible post-Christmas Covid surge, so it’ll be fascinating to see how house prices rise and fall with the fortunes of society.
Our in-house property expert, Russell Quirk, has appeared across the media to offer insight on the rapid price rise.
“Take a deeper look at the numbers,” he says. “and certainly from the point of view of the Halifax HPI released this week – Annualised growth in the UK property values is now at 15%.
“That’s an astonishing level of performance that’s great for homeowners but less so for would-be buyers that are seeing the dream of home ownership slip away inch by inch.
“Is the rise sustainable? No. And the question is, will the market see a soft landing as things return to some sort of normality in 2021, or will it be hard to stop?
“My money is definitely on the former.”
