06/09/2013

Bank Reports Five-Year High In Housing Market

House prices in the UK have increased by 5.4% in the year to August, reaching its highest rate since June 2010.

The news comes in the latest house price survey carried out by the Halifax.

In their report, it shows that house prices peaked above £170,000 for the first time in five years. Halifax credit the increase to the improving economy, low interest-rates and government-backed schemes such as Help to Buy.

Comparing reports, the Nationwide said earlier this month that they had recorded a 3.5% increase in the housing market in August, slightly lower than in July.

However, the two financial institutions measure the same market slightly differently. Halifax look at a three-month period and compare it to the same three-month period a year previously. Nationwide, take just one month and compare that with its equivalent from a year before.

(MH/JP)

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