House prices at a standstill in October, says Halifax |
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Sat, 05 Nov 2005 13:05
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LONDON - The UK's largest lender, the Halifax, has released the latest report on the housing market, which says that house prices came to a standstill in October. However, the survey also showed that there was cause for optimism as more investors were willing to invest in the market.
The price of an average house in the UK remained unchanged at £168,210, while the annual rate of increased rose by 3.9 percent as compared to the 3 percent increase in September.
"This year's slowdown in the pace of UK economic growth and the historically high level of house prices relative to earnings are expected to curb the recent improvement in housing demand and prevent a marked pick-up in prices," said Martin Ellis, chief economist at the Halifax.
But he said that the market was showing definite signs of strengthening. Prices for the three months to the end of October were up by 2.9 percent as compared to the previous three months.
"The overall pattern of price movements over the past few months shows that the market has strengthened compared with earlier in the year, but the static level of prices in October suggests that we are not poised for another sustained period of sharply rising property values," Ellis said. He added that housing demand was picking up due to the August rate cut by the Bank of England and was also being aided by the rising employment.
The housing data from Halifax differs from that reported by Nationwide, which said that house prices rose by 1.3 percent in October.
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Downturn in housing market continues despite rate cut: Hometrack 