UK house prices inch lower in July as stamp duty relief ebbs

(Alliance News) - UK house prices fell in July, according to figures from Nationwide on ...

Alliance News 28 July, 2021 | 8:10AM
Email Form Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS

(Alliance News) - UK house prices fell in July, according to figures from Nationwide on Wednesday, as a recent tapering of stamp duty relief cooled the busy property market.

According to the building society, the UK's largest, house prices fell 0.5% monthly in July to GBP244,229 from GBP245,432. This followed a 0.7% rise in June.

Annually, prices were 11% higher in July, following June's 13% hike.

Nationwide's Chief Economist Robert Gardner said: "The modest fall-back in July was unsurprising given the significant gains recorded in recent months.

"The tapering of stamp duty relief in England is also likely to have taken some of the heat out of the market."

The UK government's stamp duty holiday was originally set to end in March. However, in March, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak extended the stamp duty holiday from the end of that month until the end of June, and after this a new GBP250,000 threshold will apply until the end of September.

Nationwide's Gardner noted the deadline pushed housing market transactions to almost 200,000 in June, a record high.

"This was around twice the number of transactions recorded in a typical month before the pandemic and 8% above the previous peak seen in March," Gardner added.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Email Form Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS

About Author

Alliance News

Alliance News provides Morningstar with continuously updating coverage of news affecting listed companies.

© Copyright 2024 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.

Terms of Use        Privacy Policy        Modern Slavery Statement        Cookie Settings        Disclosures