House prices across the UK have risen 1.5% in May despite a subdued property market
House prices across the UK have risen 1.5% in May despite a subdued property market. Prices partially reversed from a 3.1% fall in April, according to Halifax’s index but experts predict growth will remain slow in year ahead. Prices were 1.9 per cent higher than a year earlier taking the national average to £224,439.
Halifax Managing director, Russell Galley said growth had fallen back from a peak at the end of last year, with the latest figures reflecting a relatively subdued UK housing market.
The latest data comes after industry experts warned that concerns about Brexit could tip the London housing market into its first annual decline since the financial crisis in 2009.
Leading property industry figures predicted a 1 per cent fall in the capital and a 1.7 per cent rise for the UK as a whole – some way behind inflation, which was 2.5 per cent
Chief economic adviser at EY ITEM Club, Howard Archer said the housing market is struggling to gain traction amid challenging conditions and any meaningful upturn will remain elusive over the coming months. It expects that house price gains over 2018 will be limited to a modest 2 per cent. At this stage, it expects prices to rise no more than 3 per cent in 2019.
Director of Legal & General’s Mortgage Club, Kevin Roberts said the more sustainable rise in house prices was good news for buyers trying to get onto the property ladder. Younger buyers are also benefiting from growing support for schemes like shared ownership, which are putting them in a better position than a few years ago.
However, this isn’t to say the housing crisis is over. One in every four housing transactions in this country are still supported by the Bank of Mum and Dad, a generous level of support, but what about those individuals who don’t have a ‘BoMaD’ to rely on?
The answer for the challenges facing the housing sector is to build more homes. There are still not enough new housing coming onto the market and a boost to housing supply – hundreds of thousands of new homes every year – will certainly provide younger buyers with a much better opportunity to take their first step as a homeowner.
