House prices bounce back for the first time in six months, says Halifax
Over the three months to January house prices were 1.9% higher than the previous period across the UK despite uncertainty over the election.
A report from the Halifax shows house prices have increased over a three month period from November to January, reversing the downward trend for the past six months.
The annual growth in house prices also improved from 7.8% in December to 8.5% in January although remains below the peak of 10.2% reached in July 2014.
According to Martin Ellis, economist at the Halifax, the property market may have been boosted by recent changes to stamp duty, improvements in real earnings and more competitive mortgage rates.
For remortgage buyers at the end of your mortgage deal, avoid the lenders expensive variable rate and switch to a lower preferential rate to reduce your monthly repayment costs.
House sales and mortgage approvals rise
House sales in 2014 were 15% higher than the previous year at 1.23 million and the highest figure since 2007 with a figure of 1.67 million.Even so sales started the year with a high and steadily decreased with the fourth quarter 5% lower than the first quarter.
The volume of mortgage approvals for first time buyers, home movers, remortgage buyers and buy-to-let landlords increased by 2% from November to December.
The rise to 60,275 follows five successive months of declines and suggests a turning point for the mortgage market.
Rising UK house prices
UK house prices increased by 2% from December to January taking the average house price to £193,130.The rise in house prices allows the older equity release buyer to stay in their home while accessing the wealth in their property with a lifetime mortgage to consolidate debt, pay for care at home or gift to a family member or friend.
The Halifax have said that data in January can be volatile as sales volumes are lower than the rest of the year. In particular, 2007 resulted in a rise of 2.3% and 2009 a rise of 2.4%.
Demand for housing is expected to continue due to the expanding economy, mortgage rates remaining low and competitive as well as strong household spending as a result of low consumer price inflation and lower energy bills.
For home movers wanting to trade up to a larger property, the fall in mortgage rates helps to reduce the monthly repayments and lower price inflation makes it more affordable to move.
January figures have not changed the expected rise in house prices and the Halifax predicts these to increase by 3% to 5% in 2015 compared to 8% last year.
What are your next steps?
Talk to our London City Mortgage advisers if you are an older homeowner releasing equity from your property, we can recommend the lifetime mortgage to access wealth for home or garden improvements and holidays.Learn more by using the equity release calculator, property value tracker chart and mortgage monthly cost calculator. Start with a free mortgage quote or call us and we can take your details.
At LCM our mortgage brokers can provide advice if you are a first time buyer, moving home, want to remortgage your existing home to a new cost effective mortgage deal or are a buy-to-let investor.
Use your dashboard to access online mortgage quotes, money off vouchers and start your mortgage application online 24/7 on desktop, tablet or smartphone.
Mortgage Best Buys
These are examples of mortgage products we can approach with many more offering interest rates and flexibility to meet your needs.
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