Quarterly house price growth reached 9.7% in the year to January 2016, Halifax’s house price index has revealed.
Quarterly house price growth reached 9.7% in the year to January 2016, Halifax’s House Price Index has revealed.
Between November and January house prices were 2.2% higher than the previous three months to reach £212,430.
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: “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.”
In December the stock of available homes for sale declined to a record low as new sales rose, RICS data reveals.
Adrian Whittaker, sales director at New Street Mortgages, said: “Clearly these figures from the Halifax confirm that rising demand and a limited supply of housing is continuing to drive competition in the property market.
“To keep on top of this ever more competitive environment, lenders need to empower brokers with technology that can offer them the highest levels of transparency and a mortgage application process that is both fast and consistent.
“As an industry, we also need to continue to develop innovative new mortgage products that can better address the regional challenges borrowers face across the country and secure the properties they want.”
