05.02.202108:46:00UTC+00UK Halifax House Prices Fall For First Time In 6 Months

UK house prices declined for the first time in six months in January, data released by the Lloyds Bank subsidiary Halifax and IHS Markit showed on Friday.

House prices fell 0.3 percent on month in January after remaining unchanged in December. This was the first decline since May and the biggest fall since April last year. Economists had forecast prices to climb 0.3 percent.

In three months to January, house prices advanced 1.6 percent from the preceding three months. On a yearly basis, house price growth slowed to 5.4 percent from 6 percent in three months to December.

There are some early signs that the upturn in the housing market could be running out of steam, with the annual rate of house price inflation cooling to its lowest level since August, Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax, said.

"How far and how deep any slowdown proves to be is a challenge to predict given the prevailing uncertainty created by the pandemic," Galley added. Structural demand changes, coupled with any further policy interventions by government, could yet sustain underlying market activity for some time to come, Galley said.