LONDON: The cost of the average UK house pushed above £200,000 last month in a surprise surge for the property market, lender Halifax has said.
The shock 1.7% rise in prices to £200,280 – albeit less than half the cost of an average home in London was the fourth monthly rise in a row measured by its house price index.
It means average house prices are now rising at an annual rate of 9.6%, the highest since last September.
Halifax’s housing economist Martin Ellis said: “Supply remains very tight with the stock of homes available for sale currently at record low levels. This shortage has been a key factor maintaining house price growth at a robust pace so far in 2015.
Economic growth, higher employment, increasing real earnings growth and very low mortgage rates are all supporting housing demand with signs of a recent modest pick-up in demand.”
