Property expert claims house prices look set to grow in second half of 2024

HOUSE PRICES will start to rise as soon the cost of borrowing is eased, an expert has predicted.

Jonathan Rolande, founder of House Buy Fast, also believes the second half of 2024 is set to be a sustained period of house price growth.

His comments come in the wake of new data released by Halifax which revealed house prices had dropped by 0.1%  in May, shaving around £280 off the average home.

Commenting on the fall, Mr Rolande said: “The drop is so insignificant we can safely ignore it. I suspect the owner of the average home will be more concerned with their energy bills which are probably far higher than this tiny fall.

“The reduction is something of a recent phenomenon with prices rising from October 2023 to this February.”

Outlining why the drop might have happened he continued: “We haven’t seen the base lending rate fall as hoped and this has caused many lenders to toughen their approach to lending – mortgage rates have crept up, as have administration fees. Many buyer incentives have been pulled too. This has had a knock-on effect on affordability.”

But Mr Rolande said there is still “a good appetite to purchase”

“The important thing is, there are still buyers out there, with a good appetite to purchase,” Mr Rolande said. “Yes, the amount that can be borrowed has been clipped back but where there is demand, there will be sales that follow. As soon as the cost of borrowing eases a little, prices will increase again. The upcoming election is doing little to dampen things, the market is as active now as it was before Rishi Sunak stepped out into a rainy Downing Street.  The likely change of Government may cause an initial jitter – buyers don’t like uncertainty and change – but I expect this to be temporary. The second half of 2024 looks set to be a period of house price growth.”

According to the latest data from Halifax, house prices were “static” in May after falling 0.1% on a monthly basis.

The lender’s latest figures suggest the average UK house price was £288,688 last month. The figure was up 1.5% annually, slightly better than the 1.1% posted in April. The Northwest was the strongest performing nation or region in the UK, where house prices grew 3.8% on an annual basis in May. The average price of a property in the Northwest is now £232,258. Northern Ireland continues to show strong annual growth, up 3.2% in May, pulling back slightly from 3.3% in April.
 Eastern England recorded the largest decline in annual growth across the UK. House prices there now average £329,853, down 0.8% in May on an annual basis, according to Halifax. Unsurprisingly, London continues to have the most expensive average price tag, now at £536,821, up marginally by 0.2% compared with last year.