©Reuters. A ‘For Sale’ sign is seen outside a residential house during dawn in London, Britain, September 28, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) – British house prices rose for a fifth straight month in February, up 0.4% from January, data from mortgage lender Halifax showed on Thursday, echoing other signs of recovery in the real estate market.
On a year-on-year basis, prices rose 1.7%, slowing from a 2.3% rise in the 12 months to January.
The average house price was around £1,800 ($2,293) below its peak in June 2022, before the market slowed as the Bank of England raised interest rates and was then hit by bond market turmoil below former prime minister Liz Truss.
Kim Kinnaird, director of Halifax Mortgages, said the boost from the recent fall in borrowing costs to buy a home was likely to dissipate.
“While lower mortgage rates, coupled with expectations of Bank of England interest rate cuts this year, should help buyer confidence in the short term, the downward trend in rates is showing signs of fading,” he said. said Kinnaird.
Halifax’s month-on-month rise in home prices was the slowest in a five-month streak of gains.
House prices in London showed their first positive annual growth since January 2023, rising 1.5% compared to February last year, Halifax said.
Rival lender Nationwide said last week that its measure of home prices in annual terms rose for the first time in more than a year.
($1 = 0.7850 pounds)