Halifax house price index
08 Septembre 2010 - 9:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDM68FF
RNS Number : 2896S
HBOS PLC
08 September 2010
+----------------------------+----------------------------+
| National Index | August 2010 |
+----------------------------+----------------------------+
+----------------------+--------------------------------+----------------------+
| All Houses, All Buyers Index (1983=100) |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Monthly Change 0.2% | Annual Change 4.6 % | |
+----------------------+--------------------------------+----------------------+
| Standardised Average Price (seasonally adjusted) GBP167,953 |
+----------------------+--------------------------------+----------------------+
Commenting, Martin Ellis, housing economist, said:
" House prices increased by 0.2% in August. This, together with July's rise,
has reversed much of the modest decline in the three preceding months. Prices
are now at a very similar level to that at the end of last year. Activity has
also been largely static since the start of the year. These developments
suggest that the market is broadly stable with house price inflation having
cooled since last year when supply shortages helped to push up prices.
The improved economy, strengthening labour market and low interest rates are all
supporting housing demand. We expect that UK house prices will remain static
overall in 2010."
Key facts
· House prices increased by 0.2% in August. This was the second successive
monthly increase following a 0.7% rise in July.
· House prices in August were 4.6% higher on an annual basis as measured by
the average for the latest three months against the same period a year earlier.
This was slightly below the 4.9% increase in July, continuing the recent
downward trend and compares with a high of 6.9% in May.
· Prices in July were marginally lower (-0.5%) than at the end of 2009. The
current average house price of GBP167,953 is 9% above its April 2009 low, but
remains 16% below its August 2007 peak.
· Housing market activity broadly stable. Bank of England industry-wide
figures show that the number of mortgages approved to finance house purchase in
the three months to July - a leading indicator of completed house sales - were
slightly higher (1%) than in the previous quarter, on a seasonally adjusted
basis. The number of approvals has been remarkably stable this year, keeping
within a range of 46,000-50,000 per month. In total, the number of approvals
during January to July was 9% higher than in the same period last year.
· The improved economy, strengthening labour market and low interest rates
are all supporting housing demand. GDP increased by 1.2% between the first and
second quarters of 2010. The recovery in economic activity - whilst unlikely to
be sustained at this pace - helped to boost the number of people in employment
by 184,000 between Quarters 1 and 2, according to the latest ONS figures.
· The combination of lower house prices compared with mid 2007 and interest
rate reductions has created a significant improvement in affordability for those
buyers wanting to take their first steps onto the property ladder. Indeed, the
proportion of a potential new first-time buyer's disposable earnings devoted to
mortgage payments has almost halved from a peak of 50% in mid 2007 to 28% -
below the 34% average over the past 25 years. Improving home affordability has
helped to boost the number of first-time buyers, which was 28% higher in the
first half of 2010 compared with the same period last year - 94,600 against
74,000 - according to the latest CML figures.
The Halifax House Price Index is prepared from information that we believe is
collated with care, but we do not make any statement as to its accuracy or
completeness. We reserve the right to vary our methodology and to edit or
discontinue/withdraw this, or any other report. Any use of this report for an
individual's own or third party commercial purposes is done entirely at the risk
of the person making such use and solely the responsibility of the person or
persons making such reliance. c Bank of Scotland plc all rights reserved 2010.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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