Average UK house price is £159,883, Halifax

UK house prices have dropped by 0.5 per cent to £159,883 in the year to April 2012, data from Halifax’s house price index have revealed.

The data showed that prices in three months to April were 0.3 per cent higher than in the previous quarter, marking the first rise in this measure for seven months.

According to Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, house prices continue to lack real direction with the current UK average prices “little different” to where it was at the end of 2011.

He highlighted that the monthly figures continue to fluctuate “quite widely” with a 2.4 per cent decline in April, wiping out March’s 2.2 per cent rise.

The data is in-line with yesterday’s Nationwide data showing the price of an average home fell by 0.2 per cent in April, following on from a 0.1 per cent decline in March. Nationwide’s house price index suggested this was the fourth time in five months that house prices have declined. The average price of a UK home is now £164,134, 0.9 per cent lower than 12 months ago, according to the bank.

Mr Ellis said: “The ending of the stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers in late March appears to have boosted home sales early this year as buyers strove to beat the deadline, and has probably contributed to the volatility in house prices in the last few months.

“We continue to expect little overall movement in prices as the UK economic situation remains challenging.”