UK House Prices Little Changed for Third Month, Halifax Says
(Bloomberg) -- UK house prices remained little changed for a third month in signs the market is stabilizing in face of elevated borrowing costs, according to one of the top mortgage lenders.
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Halifax said a typical UK home was priced at £288,455 ($368,520) in June, down 0.2% from a month ago. It followed two months of no change and was a touch weaker than data earlier in the week from Nationwide Building Society, which saw an 0.2% increase in June.
“This continued stability in house prices reflects a market that remains subdued, though overall activity has been recovering,” Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax, said in a report Friday. “Mortgage affordability is still the biggest challenge facing both homebuyers and those coming to the end of fixed-term deals. This issue is likely to be eased gradually, through a combination of lower interest rates, rising incomes, and more restrained growth in house prices.”
The impact of elevated mortgage costs was evident in separate Bank of England figures Monday, which showed the number of mortgage approvals slipped to a four-month low of 59,991 in May from 60,821 in April. The decline was slightly bigger than economists had forecast.
--With assistance from Andrew Atkinson.
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