7th Feb 2025 08:24
(Alliance News) - UK house prices hit a record high at the start of the year, mortgage lender Halifax said on Friday.
House prices rose 0.7% in January from December. They had fallen 0.2% in December from November.
"This increase pushed the average property price to a new record high of GBP299,138," Halifax analyst Amanda Bryden said.
However, the pace of annual growth eased to 3.0% in January, from 3.4% in December. It was the slowest annual growth since July.
"Affordability is still a challenge for many would-be buyers, but the market's resilience is noteworthy. There's strong demand for new mortgages and growth in lending. With a stamp duty increase looming, some of this demand may have come from first-time buyers eager to complete transactions before the end of March," Bryden added.
In focus in the UK housing market this year is a looming stamp duty policy change.
From the end of March, the temporary increase in the zero-rate stamp duty thresholds will end. For first-time buyers of a home under GBP500,000, the zero-rate band falls to GBP300,000 from GBP425,000 currently. For other home buyers, the threshold is to be reduced to GBP125,000 from GBP250,000. The measures were announced by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the October autumn budget.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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