Halifax House Price Index – COMMENT

The Halifax has just released its latest House Price Index numbers stating:

• A 0.4% drop in house prices month on month
• A 1.1% RISE in house prices in the year to September
• Average UK house price now £232,574

Our clients’ comments on the index are as follows:

Marc von Grundherr, Director at Benham & Reeves, the 17 branch London estate agency:

“These most recent of statistics from one of the country’s volume mortgage lenders are the latest in a very mixed picture and one that adds to confusion as to what on earth the property market is really doing. The various indexes of late have not only contradicted each other but often contradict themselves month on month – in fact, the numbers have bounced around like a beach-ball on a bungee rope since the beginning of the year.

The upshot is that whilst the monthly rate of increase in house prices across the UK is negative, the fact that the year on year numbers are still positive, quiote honestly defies the gravity that the current political fracas should otherwise be dictating. A post-Brexit bounce? We live in hope’    

Shepherd Ncube, Founder and CEO of Springbok Properties, the fast home-sale agent says:

“Resilience seems to be the underlying trend in UK property values overall. Westminster shenanigans seem unable to tarnish the gloss from the market and we continue to see almost uninterrupted house price growth on an annual basis albeit that that growth is certainly more subdued. You can be forgiven for thinking that a 0.4% decrease in values since August is startling however it is by no means the most stand-out stat of the last few months with, for instance, January’s Halifax data showing a 2.9% drop on the month before but then a 5.9% rise the next month. Perhaps it’s about time we paid less attention to the minutiae  of frequent house price statistics and just focussed upon a property being a home instead?”