21st Oct 2020 10:05
(Alliance News) - UK house prices climbed again in August, official data on Wednesday showed, though growth came in slightly below consensus.
According to the Office for National Statistics, average UK house prices climbed 2.5% annually in August to GBP239,000, improved from yearly growth of 2.1% in July. FXStreet said consensus had forecast an annual rise of 2.6% in August.
ONS data also showed prices were 0.7% higher monthly in August. House prices in August 2019 had climbed 0.3% monthly.
"UK house price growth has generally slowed since mid-2016, but has picked up this year," the ONS explained.
In August, average prices in London came in at GBP489,000, a joint-record with July 2017.
Back in July, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the threshold for stamp duty will be temporarily raised to GBP500,000 from GBP125,000, until March 31, 2021.
"Typically, a house purchase can take six to eight weeks to reach completion. Therefore, the price data feeding into the August 2020 UK HPI will mainly reflect those agreements that occurred before the tax changes took place," the ONS added.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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