"Annual house price growth has nearly halved from a peak of 10.0% in March this year, but remains robust at 5.2%."
October’s 5.2% is the lowest yearly growth rate since July 2013 (4.6%).
House prices in the three months to October were 0.1% higher than in the previous quarter - a slight improvement on last month’s rate of -0.1%. The quarterly rate of change has also fallen from a peak of 3.0% in February.
However house prices increased by 1.4% between September and October, the second consecutive monthly increase.
The volume of mortgage approvals also increased in September; the first monthly rise for four months. Halifax says that overall, the level of approvals appears to have broadly stabilised over the past three months albeit at a lower level than a year ago. Approvals in 2016 Quarter 3 were 12% lower than in Q3 2015.
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: “House prices in the three months to October were largely unchanged compared with the previous quarter. The annual rate of growth continued on its recent downward trend, easing to 5.2%.
“Activity levels, like house price growth, have softened compared with a year ago. Home sales, however, appear to have stabilised in recent months following the distortions earlier in the year due to the changes to stamp duty in April.
“Annual house price growth has nearly halved from a peak of 10.0% in March this year, but remains robust at 5.2%. This expected slowdown appears to have been largely due to mounting affordability pressures, which have increasingly constrained housing demand. Whilst house price growth may ease further in the coming months, very low mortgage rates and a shortage of properties available for sale should help support price levels.”
Ian Thomas, Co-Founder and Director of LendInvest, commented: "October has seen a flattening out of house price growth, with a real effect of the stamp duty changes feeding through to reduced market demand. This is something that we are seeing industry call on the government to address in the upcoming Autumn Statement and Housing White Paper publication.
"Many are forecasting that the property market may see a slowdown as the uncertainty around Britain's withdrawal from the European Union impacts on consumer confidence."
