House prices increase between April and August

According to figures that were recently released by the mortgage lender Halifax there was a significant increase in property prices in the UK between April of this year and August, with the average property price said to have increased by around £6000.

However, despite the encouraging figures officials from the lender have said that activity in the property market is still only at around half the level that it was in 2007 before the onset of the global credit crunch.

Officials from Halifax said that there was an increase of 0.8 percent in property values in August, and this brought the average property price up to £160,973.

This reflects a drop of just over 10 percent year on year on the Halifax House Price Index. It is thought that property prices are now roughly on par with the level that they were at in August 2004. House prices are now said to be down by nearly 20 percent compared to their peak in 2007 according to the lender.

As a result of a number of reports that have indicated that property prices are on their way up some industry officials have concluded that the property market is on its way to recovery.

However, many other industry experts have said that whilst there may be signs of green shoots the markets are still very volatile, and there is nothing to say that any recovery will actually be sustainable in the long term.

One leading economist stated: ‘Given ongoing tight credit conditions, still relatively poor economic fundamentals and the fact that affordability ratios are moving back up now, we suspect that house prices are highly likely to suffer relapses over the coming months. Much will clearly depend on whether or the economy can sustain a probable return to growth in the third quarter, how much further unemployment rises, how quickly and to what extent credit conditions ease, and how many properties come on to the market over the coming months.’

Tags: property values, house prices







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