5
Nov
Mixed picture for market outlook.....
House prices in the UK rose by 1.8% in October compared with the
previous month - but this followed a big drop a month earlier, the
Halifax has said.
The lender, part of the Lloyds Banking Group, said that the less
volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed property
values dropped by 1.2%.
The average home cost £164,919, according to the survey.
Monthly changes in prices had been a mixed picture, the lender
said, but it is not predicting a sustained fall.
"An increase in the number of properties available for sale in
recent months, together with a decline in demand, has put some
downward pressure on prices in recent months," said Halifax housing
economist Martin Ellis.
"We do not believe that prices are set to fall sharply over a
sustained period."
A month ago, the Halifax survey produced a surprising figure that
house prices had dropped by 3.6% in September, compared with the
previous month - the biggest drop on record.
However, the lender, and analysts, warned at the time that this was
likely to be a blip and should not be regarded as a measure of
long-term price trends.
This seems to have been corrected with the monthly rise in October,
with the figures affected by low levels of activity in the
market.
The less volatile quarter-on-quarter measure has shown a smoother
trend - that prices have remained relatively static or have fallen
slightly. In September this showed a 0.9% drop. In October, the
decline was 1.2%.
Average property prices in the UK remain 1.2% higher than a year
ago, continuing a downward trend from 6.9% in May.
This annual figure is calculated by the Halifax by comparing the
preceding three months with the same three months a year earlier,
arguing that this irons out any short-term fluctuations.
When comparing the actual average price in October alone, then the
average home cost £71 less in October 2010 than it did in
October 2009.