UK house prices predicted to stay stable next year

UK house prices will stay stable next year after an increase in November left them little changed in the past year, Halifax said yesterday.

Values rose 1 per cent from the previous month to an average £160,879, the mortgage unit of Lloyds said in a statement in London. From a year earlier, prices were little changed.

“Challenging economic conditions have constrained housing demand, whilst low interest rates have helped to support affordability and demand,” Halifax economist Martin Ellis said.

“We expect continuing broad stability in house prices nationally in 2013. ”

In the three months to November, prices were 0.7 per cent lower than in the previous three months, and 1.3 per cent lower than in the same period a year earlier, Halifax said.

Recent house-price reports are mixed. A Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors gauge showed the best result in more than two years in October, while the Land Registry showed prices in England and Wales fell 0.3 per cent on the month. – Bloomberg