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UK house prices jumped in January as falling mortgage rates boosted the market.
Data released by Halifax shows that average house prices were 2.5% higher than a year ago – the highest annual growth since January 2023.
The typical UK home now costs £291,029, more than £3,900 more than last month, Halifax reports.
On a monthly basis, they rose by +1.3% in January, the fourth monthly rise in a row.
However, south-east England continues to experience the most downward pressure on house prices.
Halifax said: "Northern Ireland recorded the strongest growth across all the nations or regions within the UK – house prices here increased by +5.3% on an annual basis. Properties in Northern Ireland now cost on average £195,760, which is £9,761 higher than the same time in January 2023.
"Scotland and Wales both saw positive growth, +4% on an annual basis to £206,087 and £219,609 respectively. North-west (+3.2%), Yorkshire and Humber (+2.8%), north-east (+2.0%) and east Midlands (0.5%) also recorded house price increases over the last year.
"The south-east fell the most last month when compared to other UK regions, with homes selling for an average £379,220 (-2.3%), a drop of £8,866."
Last week the rival lender Nationwide reported that prices rose by 0.7% in January, so this is the second sign that prices picked up last month.
MPs have accused the Bank of England of taking a “leap in the dark” as it offloads hundreds of billions of pounds worth of government debt at discount prices.
A report by the Treasury committee released this morning said the central bank had failed to fully consider the broader economic consequences should the sale crystalise a loss of up to £130bn, with the government forced to make up the shortfall.
MPs said they feared the benefits of the quantitative easing programme, which has involved the purchase of £875bn of govenment debt since the 2008 financial crisis, would be reversed under a process known as quantitative tightening, having knock-on implications for public spending.
The committee chair, Harriett Baldwin, said: “It has become clear during the course of this inquiry that the decision to undertake a period of quantitative tightening is a leap in the dark for the UK economy.
“I recognise that the Bank of England does not have a crystal ball and is in uncharted waters, but more can be done to develop forecasting and modelling tools which can help us understand the risks and benefits of QT.”
The Bank of England embarked on its QE programme in tandem with other central banks to stimulate lending in the economy. But the scheme was only expected to last a couple of years and the bonds purchased were expected to be sold at a modest loss.
Fourteen years later, and following a dramatic increase in interest rates, government bonds have lost value and could be sold, depending on the path of interest rates, at an estimated £50bn to £130bn loss over the next decade.
The housebuilders Barratt Developments and Redrow have agreed to a tie-up that values Redrow at about £2.5bn, to create a combined group called Barratt Redrow.
Barratt is paying £2.524bn to buy Redrow’s shares, which is a 27.2% premium to last night’s closing price.
Also coming up
• 8.40am GMT: Bank of England’s deputy governor Sarah Breeden to give keynote speech at the UK women in economics annual networking event
• Noon GMT: US weekly mortgage approvals
• 2.15pm GMT: MPs to question Prudential Regulation Authority over banks’ use of Amazon Web Services and Google
We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
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