Halifax HPI: Price growth slows to five year low of 1.5%

This is the lowest annual rate of growth since March 2013.

Halifax HPI: Price growth slows to five year low of 1.5%

Annual house price growth fell to 1.5% in October, down from 2.5% in September, Halifax’s house price index has found.

This is the lowest annual rate of growth since March 2013.

Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, said: “House prices continue to be supported by the fact that the supply of new homes and existing properties available for sale remains low.

“Further house price support comes from an already high and improving employment rate and historically low mortgage rates which are creating higher rates of relative affordability.

“We see this continuing to be the case over the coming months and we remain supportive of our 0-3% forecast range.”

On a quarterly and monthly basis prices rose by 0.2% and 0.7%.

Kevin Roberts, director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “The times are certainly changing for first-time buyers.

“More sustainable house price growth, an extension of Help to Buy and a stamp duty exemption for shared ownership properties puts our young people in a much stronger position to buy their first home. But what about those further up the property ladder?

“The changes in the Budget were certainly welcome, but if we want to create a housing market that is accessible and fair to all, we need to see more support for downsizers and families too.

“That means extending the stamp duty exemption to people wanting to downsize and delivering on thousands of new, affordable homes, including properties suitable for older people that our country desperately needs.”

Russell Quirk, chief executive of Emoov.co.uk, said: “The slowest rate of growth in over five and a half years certainly suggests that this is how the UK market will see out 2018, not with a bang but with a whimper.

“However, this is no reason to run for the hills having been widely predicted, with house prices at least, still up annually and both quarterly and monthly.

“A further freeze in interest rates should help stimulate the market through the volatile cocktail of mortgage affordability and lack of housing stock.”