March house prices down 0.9% mth/mth (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - London, 07 May - UK house prices rose 0.1% month on month in April, after falling 0.9% in March, according to the bank Halifax.

Year on year, property prices grew 1.1% annually against a 0.4% rise the previous month.

A typical UK home now costs 288,949 pounds, compared with 288,781 pounds in March, it added.

Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages, Halifax, said that the data reflects "a housing market finding its feet in an era of higher interest rates. While borrowing costs remain more expensive than a few years ago, homebuyers are gaining confidence from a period of relative stability. Activity and demand is improving, evidenced by greater numbers of mortgage applications so far this year, while at an industry level mortgage approvals have reached their highest point in 18 months.

'Our recent research also found that buyers are adjusting their expectations, with first-time buyers in particular compensating for higher borrowing costs by targeting smaller properties. We see this reflected in property prices for the first few months of this year, with the value of flats rising most sharply, closing the 'growth gap' on bigger properties that's existed for most of the last four years.

'However, we can't overlook the fact that affordability constraints are still a significant challenge, for both new buyers and those rolling off fixed-term deals. Mortgage rates have edged up again in recent weeks, primarily as a result of expectations around future Bank of England base rate changes, with markets now pricing in a slower pace of cuts.

'If, as is still expected, downward moves in Bank Rate come into play later this year, fixed mortgage rates should fall.

Combined with the resilience displayed by the housing market over recent months, we now expect property prices to rise modestly over the course of 2024.'.

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(RADIOCOR) 07-05-24 08:46:28 (0214) 5 NNNN