House prices rose 9.7% in the year to January, up from December’s figure of 9.5%, new figures from Halifax have revealed.
The annual rate of growth has been between 8% and 10% since the start of 2015.
According to the Halifax House Price index, prices rose 1.7% between December and January. The average house price in the UK was £212,430.
However, the figures were higher than Nationwide’s, which said house prices were up 4.4% in 2015 to £196,829.
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: “House prices in the three months to January were 2.2% higher than in the previous three months. This was higher than in the two preceding months when this measure was below 2.0%.
“The imbalance between supply and demand continues to exert significant upward pressure on house prices. This situation looks set to persist over the coming months. Further ahead, increasing affordability issues, as price increases continue to exceed wage growth, are likely to curb housing demand and cause price growth to ease.”
UK home sales totalled 1.23 million in 2015, slightly higher than the 1.22 million recorded in 2014.
Jeremy Leaf, a former RICS chairman and north London estate agent, said the pickup up in growth was not surprising with landlords and second homebuyers keen to buy before the stamp duty hike on 1 April.
“The continued lack of supply is a worry, however, resulting in a decline in number of property transactions. If people aren’t able to move in and out of the market when they want to, there will be an inevitable knock-on effect for the rest of the economy. With the high cost of moving, continued shortage of supply and affordability issues with tougher mortgage criteria, this situation looks unlikely to change any time soon,” Leaf said.
“The lack of supply is a huge issue which will dominate the market in coming months, despite government plans to encourage smaller house builders, and will also inevitably affect house-price growth over coming months. While the Government is pledging to build more homes, there is no room for complacency. While everyone agrees that more building is required, the question is whether there is enough capacity in the market to get the job done,” he added.
