UK House Prices Jump by Almost £5,000 in August
UK house prices rose by almost £5,000 in August as the property market continued to boom after the partial end to the government’s stamp duty holiday in England and Northern Ireland. The Nationwide building society said, "The cost of the average home had increased by £4,628 to £248,857, a monthly rise of 2.1% – the second highest in 15 years." Despite expectations that house price inflation would ease after the threshold for paying stamp duty was lowered from £500,000 to £250,000 in July, year-on-year property inflation rose to 11% in August, up from 10.5% the previous month. Nationwide put the strength of the market in August down to a lack of properties for sale and buyers of homes worth less than £250,000 seeking to complete purchases before the stamp duty threshold reverts to its pre-crisis norm of £125,000 in October. Record low interest rates, the demand for more spacious properties during the pandemic, and the incentives provided by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, have meant the average UK house price is up by 13% since the start of the crisis 18 months ago. Last month’s house price increase follows a short-lived contraction in July when house sales tumbled by two-thirds after the government scaled back tax breaks for new buyers. Nationwide said price growth had shrunk by 0.6% before the August rebound.