Here at Advantage Construction Insurance, we’ve been starting the day with a quick perusal of the Halifax House Price Index (never let it be said that we don’t know how to have fun!) and it makes heartening reading for home owners, with house price growth up by 5%.
Russell Galley, Managing Director, Halifax, said:
“The average UK house price now stands at £236,619 following a 1.1% monthly rise in April, as demand and supply of housing remained subdued for another month.
“The index has seen a weaker pace of growth over the last three years, which is consistent with the easing of transactions volumes and housing market activity reflected in RICS, Bank of England and HMRC figures.
“Looking further back, this April also marks 10 years since the lowest point of the Halifax house price index following the financial crash in 2008. Over the past decade annual house price growth has seen the average price increase by £81,956, or an average rise of 4.3% each year.”
A new report in the Guardian citing new figures from Rightmove paints a similar picture, stating: “The property market is likely to stage a Brexit ‘relief rally’ over the summer, according to Britain’s biggest property website, as it revealed signs of bounceback in prices over the past month.
Rightmove said asking prices on its website jumped by an average of 1.1% – an increase of £3,447 – in the month to 6th April but remain 0.1% below the level of a year ago.
It said the Brexit delay is likely to boost confidence in the market. Miles Shipside of Rightmove said: “No doubt there are still a lot of twists and turns to come but this extension could give hesitating home movers encouragement that there is now a window of relative certainty in uncertain times.
“We are not anticipating an activity surge but maybe a wave of relief that releases some pent-up demand to take advantage of static property prices and cheap fixed-rate mortgages.”
We’ll keep bringing you the latest news and views from the Advantage team, and the digested version of all the latest developments affecting housebuilding and construction. Thank you for reading!
Related feature: Housebuilding returns the construction sector to growth in April.
Want to learn more? Contact one of our relationship managers today to discuss your requirements on 0845 900 3969
