House prices rise as property market continues to defy downturn
The figure was above economists' expectations of a 0.3 per cent month-on-month increase.
Compared to the same period last year, house prices rose by 2.4 per cent to £298,237, slowing from a year-on-year increase of 2.7 per cent in June.
Last week, Halifax's rival Nationwide said that house prices had risen by 0.6 per cent in July compared to the previous month.
The housing market in Britain has settled after a rush earlier in the year to beat changes to stamp duty thresholds that took effect in April.
The changes, announced in Labour's budget last October, lowered the threshold for paying the tax from house purchases above £250,000 to £125,000, while first-time buyers would have to pay stamp duty on purchases above £300,000, down from £425,000.
Amanda Bryden, the head of mortgages at Halifax, said she expected house prices to follow a steady path of modest gains through the rest of the year.
'Challenges remain for those looking to move up or onto the property ladder, but with mortgage rates continuing to ease and wages still rising, the picture on affordability is gradually improving,' Bryden said.
'Combined with the more flexible affordability assessments now in place, the result is a housing market that continues to show resilience, with activity levels holding up well.'
The figures come as data from HMRC showed that the number of residential property sales increased in June. The number of UK home sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 13.4 per cent month-on-month to 93,530 in June, according to the tax authority.
Separate data from the Bank of England also showed that the number of mortgages approved for house purchases increased in June by 1.4 per cent to 64,167.
Bryden added that the second half of the year would see a notable rise in homeowners coming to the end of fixed-rate deals taken during the pandemic-era property boom, during ultra-low interest rates.
• Business live: House prices rise as buyers shrug off stamp duty
'Those coming off a two-year fixed-rate are very likely to see their monthly payments come down, as they originally locked in rates during the peak that followed the 2022 mini-budget.'
'While most borrowers coming to the end of five-year fixed-rate mortgage deals will see their monthly repayments rise, the extent of this will vary across households', Bryden said.
The Bank of England is widely expected to cut its main interest rate to 4 per cent from 4.25 per cent later on Thursday, which would improve mortgage affordability. However, the outlook for further reductions in borrowing costs is unclear due to persistent inflation pressures, even as the jobs market cools.
Halifax said that house prices rose fastest in Northern Ireland, where the average home price rose by 9.3 per cent year-on-year to £213,832 in July. In Scotland, house prices rose by 4.7 per cent year-on-year to £125,238, while property prices in Wales saw a rise of 2.7 per cent to £227,928.
In England, the North West and Yorkshire & Humber saw the highest rate of property price inflation, with house prices rising in both regions by 4 per cent to £242,293 and £215,532 respectively.
Prices rose more slowly in the south of England, by less than 1 per cent year-on-year, though London remains the most expensive part of the UK, with the average house costing £539,914.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
3 minutes ago
- The Independent
Elon Musk's Tesla applies to supply energy to British households
Elon Musk's Tesla is plotting to enter the British energy market and supply households in the coming months. The company has sought approval for an energy licence from regulator Ofgem in order to take on energy supply giants including British Gas owner Centrica and Octopus Energy. It hopes to start supplying energy to homes and businesses in England, Scotland and Wales as soon as next year. Tesla Energy Ventures applied for the licence last month, according to a new filing published by Ofgem. The application was signed by Andrew Payne, director of the group's energy business in Europe. The electric car manufacturer, run by the world's richest man, also has a solar energy and battery storage business. It comes around two years after Tesla first started hiring for a head of operations to run its proposed energy supply business. Tesla has been involved in the UK energy market since 2020, when it was granted a licence to be an electricity generator. In the US, the group has been an electricity supplier in Texas for the past three years. It comes amid a backdrop of waning demand for Tesla's electric vehicles across Europe in recent months. Industry figures showed an almost 60% plunge in the number of new Tesla registrations in the UK in July, compared with a year earlier. Data showed that 987 new vehicles were registered in the UK in July compared with 2,462 in the same month a year earlier.
The Independent
3 minutes ago
- The Independent
EasyJet completes huge rollout of new software in bid to improve efficiency
EasyJet has completed the installation of new navigation software on 54 aircraft, designed to enhance collaboration with air traffic control (ATC) and improve flight efficiency. The UK's largest airline stated the Future Air Navigation System-C (FANS-C) shares real-time aircraft trajectory information with ATC providers, enabling more efficient route calculations. This innovative system also allows controllers to relay instructions, such as "climb to 36,000 feet," via text rather than radio, thereby minimising misunderstandings and potential hold-ups. EasyJet said it has retrofitted the programme on all 54 of its A320 and A321 neo family planes. The carrier's new jets rolling off the Airbus assembly line are equipped with the technology as standard. EasyJet said the software has saved it 334 tonnes of fuel since it began using it in 2019. It said last month French ATC disruption was responsible for the majority of its delays this summer. David Morgan, chief operating officer at easyJet, said: 'Technologies like Fans-C are not only essential for the modernisation of airspace, they will be critical in helping deliver meaningful reductions in fuel, carbon emissions and noise pollution. 'To maximise the potential of these technologies, it's critical that airspace reform is finally delivered, and this means more direct routes to help reduce congestion and delays. 'The UK Government has taken positive steps to redesign UK airspace – we now need those plans delivered swiftly here and across Europe so we can properly harness these technologies and capitalise on the environmental benefits they will deliver.' The Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority are establishing a group of aviation experts to work with UK airports on modernising airspace. It is hoped this UK Airspace Design Service will launch by the end of the year. A radar-related issue was blamed for a UK ATC failure by provider Nats on July 30 which forced the cancellation of more than 150 flights, disrupting thousands of passengers.
The Sun
4 minutes ago
- The Sun
Supermarket giant WILL hike prices across UK stores following Rachel Reeves' tax raid in big U-turn
A MAJOR supermarket chain has said food prices will have to rise over the next six months following the Government's Autumn Budget. In recently published accounts, Iceland blamed Rachel Reeves ' tax raid for hiking its suppliers' costs. 1 Employer National Insurance contributions and the national minimum wage rose in April, with some suppliers passing these added cost onto supermarkets. It comes after Iceland's boss Richard Walker told the Telegraph in January companies should stop "wallowing" and complaining about the measures announced in the Budget. Iceland said it was "doing our utmost" to offset rising costs caused by suppliers, but would "inevitably have to pass some of these on to consumers, where we can do so without weakening our own price position in the marketplace". It added: "In consequence, we expect UK food price inflation to peak at some 4-5% in the next six months." The warning comes after the Bank of England (BoE) estimated food prices will rise to around 5.5% by the end of the year. The central bank said food inflation was surging due to increased business labour costs and obligations on retailers to reduce packaging waste. Swathes of retailers and chains have increased the price of products or warned of future hikes after the Government's Autumn Budget. Employer National Insurance contributions were bumped up from 13.8% to 15% and the threshold at which they are paid lowered from £9,100 to £5,000 in April. The national minimum wage was also increased to £12.21. But the hikes have piled pressure on retailers, with some saying they have to pass the added costs onto customers. Four ways to save money on your weekly shop in Iceland The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents retailers, cautioned in July prices will keep rising. Helen Dickinson, its boss, exclusively told The Sun last month: "Retailers are doing everything they can to shield consumers from the worst of the inflationary pressures. 'However, with £7billion in additional costs from the last Budget still filtering through, rising inflation is becoming inevitable." She warned that if the Government loaded more costs onto the retail sector at this year's Autumn Budget, food inflation could rise even more with "hardworking families" having to pay higher prices at the tills. Two-thirds of 52 leading retailers surveyed by the BRC in January said they were considering raising prices due to the Government's tax raid. Which retailers have warned of price hikes? The boss of M&S said the supermarket would have to pass on extra costs due to the National Insurance and minimum wage hikes. Stuart Machin said any price rises would be 'small and behind the market' but did not say how much they would go up by. Meanwhile, Sainsbury's warned the Budget would cost it an extra £140million. Its CEO Simon Roberts warned that the chain would need to work with its suppliers to minimise the impact on customers. Next also warned its costs would increase by £67million, some of which would need to be passed on to shoppers. It warned that sales growth would pull back sharply until the end of 2025, 'as employer tax increases, and their potential impact on prices and employment, begin to filter through in the economy'. RETAIL PAIN IN 2025 Chief consumer reporter James Flanders explains what could happen to retailers this year. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024. End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker. It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date. This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023. It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns. The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker. Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations. Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes. Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
