The average price of a house in the UK has hit a record high after a fifth successive month of increases in the value of properties, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender has said.
Halifax’s monthly house price index found that the cost of an average home was £298,083 in November, up almost £5,000 on the previous record set in October. Before the latest rises, the record high was set in June 2022, at £293,507.
House prices increased by 1.3% in November, the biggest increase this year and the fifth consecutive monthly rise. On an annual basis property prices were up 4.8%, the highest rate of increase since November 2022.
Nevertheless, Bryden said positive employment figures and expectations of a further decrease in interest rates, which should flow through to better mortgage deals, were expected to continue to keep demand high in the property sector.
Northern Ireland continued to experience the strongest property price growth in the UK, rising 6.8% on an annual basis in November. The average home in Northern Ireland now costs £203,131. In England, the north-west recorded the strongest growth, at 5.9%, with properties now £237,045 on average.
London retained the top spot for the highest average house price in the UK, at £545,439, up 3.5% compared with last year. Separate figures released by Nationwide this week showed house prices in the UK grew at the fastest rate in almost two years in November.
The figures from Halifax and Nationwide suggest house hunters have shrugged off the changes to property buying in the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s debut budget, which was announced at the end of October. In England and Northern Ireland, Reeves increased stamp duty on buy-to-let properties and second homes from 3% to 5% from next April.
She also scrapped the temporary increase on purchase price for nil rate of stamp duty, the sale figure before consumers have to start paying the tax. Hofwever, the housebuilder Berkeley cautioned on the near-term demand for new homes after reporting an almost 8% fall in profits on Friday.
Berkeley said affordability concerns continue to weigh on the property sector, as the company reported a 7.7% decline in profits to £275m for the half-year to the end of October. The company said there had been a “slight improvement” in sales in recent weeks, and reiterated its existing pre-tax profit guidance of £525m for the year to the end of April.
