House prices rise by 7.5% over year
HOUSE prices took a £1,000 hit in January but are still 7.5 per cent up on the year.
The average property was £249,000 – down from the record high of £250,000 in December, the Office for National Statistics said.
This was the first slowdown in growth since July.
However, the average price was still £17,000 higher than 12 months earlier.
The ONS said that over the year to January, prices rose by 7.5 per cent.
That compares with eight per cent for the 12 months to December
2020. Pent-up demand caused by the first lockdown, plus Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty holiday, fuelled a mini boom. Earlier this month it was confirmed the current duty holiday – zero for homes of £500,000 and below – would be extended until June 30 after which the threshold will drop to £250,000 until October.
The equivalent property tax holiday for Scotland is to end on March 31, while it has been extended until June 30 inWales.
Mark Harris, boss of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said the slip in January was before Mr Sunak announced the extension. He added: “There may have been buyers who took their foot off the gas.”
Sarah Coles, at Hargreaves Lansdown financial services, said: “The market was open in January but many sellers weren’t keen to let people traipse through. Buyers hadn’t had the good news of the stamp duty holiday extension and even when sales were agreed, old problems kicked in – with sales flowing like treacle.”
Yorkshire Building Society’s Nitesh Patel added: “The dash for space continues as buyers snap up larger homes, adding upward pressure on prices.”