Brian Murphy, Head of Lending for Mortgage Advice Bureau comments:
“The report released by the Halifax this morning indicates that house price growth is still evident, albeit at a modest level both on a month on month and year on year basis of 0.4% and 1.8% respectively. Having said that, the Halifax, along with other leading indices, had suggested previously that 2018 would be a ‘flat’ year for both the number of transactions and property values, therefore to some extent, the market is performing to expectations with no cause for alarm.
Certainly a busy January for mortgage approvals bodes well in the coming months as a potential measure of future activity, but buyers in many areas are likely to be hampered by the lack of choice available on the market due to the ongoing historically low figures of properties for sale, which is likely to have a drag effect on the number of agreed sales.
That all said, given the current ongoing political headwinds, it’s highly possible that many in the property industry would be delighted with a property market which maintains its current steady trajectory, and would see this as a positive outcome if indeed this proves to be the case by the end of this year.”
Read the full Halifax report here.
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