House prices see little change
Thursday, 6 October 2011 2:04 PM
House prices fell 0.5 per cent in September but the overall picture is improving slightly, according to the Halifax.
The bank's house price index has been up one month and down the next for most of this year. Over the third quarter of the year, prices were up 0.1 per cent – the first time that prices have risen over a quarter since early 2010.
However, over the last 12 months prices are down 2.3 per cent at an average of £161,132. This was down on the annual rate of decline seen in August (-2.6 per cent) and continues the improvement seen since May (when prices were down 4.2 per cent).
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: "Greater uncertainty about economic and personal financial circumstances, together with pressure on householders' finances are likely to be constraining housing demand. Despite these pressures low interest rates and a rise in employment over the past year have been supporting the market, resulting in broad stability in both prices and activity. We expect little change over the remainder of this year."
Typical mortgage payments for a new borrower have fallen from 48 per cent of average disposable earnings in mid 2007 to just 26 per cent now.
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