Pre-coronavirus house prices up 3%
Annual house prices in the UK grew 3 per cent in March, up on the 2.8 per cent seen in February.
However, a monthly comparison results in zero change, giving an average house price of £240,384.
The lender adds that there was a quarterly rise of 2.1 per cent.
Market commentary broadly agrees that not only are indices likely to look very different after this, but that even compiling them will prove problematic.
Halifax managing director Russell Galley says that while key market indicators “showed a sustained level of buyer and seller activity,” at the beginning of March, “it’s clear we ended the month in very different territory as a result of the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“With viewings cancelled and movers being encouraged to put transactions on hold,” he says, “activity will inevitably fall sharply in the coming months. It should be noted that with less data available, calculating average house prices is likely to become more challenging in the short-term.
“However, it’s still too early to properly assess what potential long-term impacts the current lockdown might have on the UK housing market.”
Anglo Residential co-founder Anna Clare Harper says: “Unlike fast-moving stock markets, the blessing and curse of house-price indices is that they reflect general trends and a slow-moving market.
“What is clear to ordinary homeowners and investors alike is that residential property has never been more important than when we must all remain inside our own. Suddenly, residential properties are viewed not just as homes, but as places of work, rest, play and shelter. Partly as a result of this, values are not expected to reduce considerably across the type of property most people care about the most: their home.”
Houso director Ben Johnston adds: “’Predicting what will happen to house prices over the next couple of months is impossible. Property is essentially an untradeable commodity, so there is the potential that its value will be protected as it is too static to be traded with the ferocity of say, the stock market.
“The worst thing for us all would be for commentators to try to predict what is going to happen with regard to prices.
“With no sales data and no history of this sort of event happening, all it is, is guesswork. Right now, we should all be thankful for our homes as a place to shelter and protect our family. The home has never been more important in terms of what it was actually designed for.”