House prices in Britain rose 4.6 percent in the three months to July year on year, boosted by the recent improvement of the economy and employment, said the lender Halifax on Tuesday.

The growth came on the back of June's 3.7-percent increase, and is the highest annual growth rate since August 2010.

The Halifax house price index report showed that house prices in the three months ending July were 2.1 percent higher than in the preceding three months.

House prices increased by 0.9 percent in July, which was the sixth consecutive monthly rise, bringing the average house price 169,624 pounds.

The Halifax figures were largely in line with the other British lender Nationwide's survey results. Nationwide said house prices increased 0.8 percent in July compared with the previous month, and were 3.9 percent higher than July last year, with the average home price standing at 170,825 pounds.

Halifax said the housing market activity was rising in July.

Figures from the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) showed that home sales in the first six months of this year increased six percent year on year to reach 495,000.

The number of mortgage approvals for house purchases, a leading indicator of completed house sales, in the second quarter of this year was six percent higher than in the first quarter despite a one-percent fall between May and June, said the Bank of England.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax said: "Greater confidence is likely to have underpinned the increase in housing demand."

"Official schemes, such as the Funding for Lending Scheme and the Help to Buy equity loan scheme, may also be raising demand," he said.

Ellis predicted that house prices would continue to rise gradually through this year with only modest economic growth and still falling real earnings constraining housing demand and activity. Endi

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)