Wednesday 7th July 2021 - 08:08 (BST)
UK house prices continued to push higher over June according to the latest figures from one of the country’s biggest lenders, Halifax bank. The average house price now sits at £260,538 - £21,000 higher than last year and represents an 8.8% increase across the country. This follows an upwardly revised 9.6% rise in the previous month which was the highest in 14 years.
The exponential growth is largely due to the stamp duty holiday that was announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak when the country was coming out of its first lockdown in July 2020. With the duty relief coming to an end on October 1st, there has also been the first signs of slowdown in what many consider an over-heating property market.
On a monthly basis, prices were down 0.5%, the first decline since January and Halifax’s Managing Director Russell Gately stating; “With the stamp duty holiday now being phased out, it was predicted the market might start to lose some steam entering the latter half of the year. It’s unlikely that those with mortgages approved in the early months of summer expected to benefit from the maximum tax break, given the time needed to complete transactions".
Sterling moved slightly lower on the back of the news and is currently trading around $1.38 versus the US dollar and €1.1650 versus the euro.
