RE: Time to take stock5 Jul 2019 12:00
UK house prices pick up a bit of speed - Halifax
LONDON (Reuters) - British house prices rose at the fastest annual rate since early 2017 in the three months to the end of June, mortgage lender Halifax said on Friday, adding to other signs that the housing market has stabilised after weakening on Brexit worries.
House prices were up by 5.7% in the three months to June compared with the same period a year ago after rising by 5.2% in the three months to May, Halifax said on Friday. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a 5.9% rise.
Halifax cautioned that the annual increase was flattered by weak price growth in the corresponding period in 2018. In monthly terms, prices fell by 0.3% after a rise of 0.4% in May.
But Russell Galley, Halifax's managing director, said the housing market was "displaying a reasonable degree of resilience in the face of political and economic uncertainty".
Other measures of house prices have shown smaller increases than Halifax recently -- with prices in London falling -- but have also suggested a bottoming out in the market after a slowdown linked to worries about Brexit.
Halifax's measure of annual house price growth had been growing by nearly 10% a year at the time of the 2016 referendum.