Property price index suggests growth is “in line with expectations”

New research published by one of the UK’s leading mortgage lenders has forecast that Britain’s property market will remain buoyant towards the end of 2017.

Halifax’s latest UK House Price Index has revealed that annual house price growth has eased to just 2.1 per cent, but that “an ongoing shortage of properties for sale” is likely to continue to bolster growth over the next few months.

Its report reveals that property values in the three months to July 2017 were 0.2 per cent lower than those recorded between February and April – representative of the fourth successive quarterly fall in values.

Despite this, however, prices in the three months to July were still up by 2.1 per cent year-on-year – and lenders are expecting sustainable yet sensible growth ahead.

Brian Murphy, of the Mortgage Advice Bureau, said the new data reflected that “house price growth is continuing in line with expectations.”

“Given that prices are now reaching all-time highs, a subdued level of house price growth for the rest of 2017 may not be such a bad thing,” he added.

He said that prices needed to “remain at a level whereby first-time buyers, who underpin the rest of the market, are able to afford to purchase in order to ensure that the rest of the property market ecosystem continues to function.”

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