House prices up 1% in monthly rise

UK house prices went up 1% in June compared with the month before, Halifax has reported.

However, on an annual basis, prices are down 0.5%, and on a quarterly basis, down 0.3%.

The average UK house price now stands at £162,417, according to Halifax, which says that typical mortgage payments for a new borrower are around 26% of disposable earnings – significantly lower than the 36% average over the past 27 years.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at the bank, said: “House prices in the three months to June were 0.3% lower than in the previous three months. Prices increased by 1.0% in June alone as house prices continue to fluctuate on a monthly basis, with an even number of falls and rises over the past year.
 
“There has been a marked improvement in the annual rate of change over the past 12 months. A year ago, in May 2011, house prices were falling at an annual rate of 4.2%. In contrast, there has been broad stability recently with the annual rate between 0% and -0.5% in each of the past three months. 
 
“The ending of the Stamp Duty holiday at the end of March appears to have distorted house price movements and sales in recent months. Nonetheless, despite falling back in April and May, sales remain slightly higher than a year ago. 
 
“Continuing low levels of mortgage payments relative to income and recent increases in employment may have helped support house prices so far this year. 

“We expect little change in prices and sales over the remainder of the year provided that the UK’s economic outlook does not deteriorate significantly.”