U.K. August House Prices Rise for a Second Month, Halifax Says
U.K. house prices rose for a second month in August as low borrowing costs lured homebuyers, a report by Halifax showed.
Home values climbed 0.8 percent to an average of 160,973 pounds ($266,000) after rising 1.2 percent in the previous month, the division of Lloyds Banking Group Plc said in a statement today. The median forecast of 14 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 1 percent increase. Prices were down 7.6 percent from a year earlier.
The report adds to evidence that the property slump is easing. Mortgage approvals rose to a 15-month high in July. The Bank of England will probably continue a plan to buy 175 billion pounds of bonds with newly created money to cement the economy’s recovery from the worst recession in a generation.
“Demand for housing has increased since the start of the year due to better affordability and low interest rates,” Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said in the statement. “This, together with low levels of property available for sale, has boosted house prices over the last few months.”
The central bank will maintain the size of its bond purchase program, according to all 35 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Policy makers will also keep the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent, all 60 economists in a separate survey said. The bank announces the decision at noon in London today.