A property expert has issued a key warning to anyone who is thinking of buying a home in the first three months of 2025. As we enter the new year, house hunters are being advised on the current state of the property market. House prices ended in 2024 just shy of a record peak, says Nationwide Building Society. The banking company revealed that annual house price growth accelerated to 4.7 percent in December, up from November's 3.7 percent. Property values saw an uptick of 0.
7 percent month-on-month in December, elevating the UK's average house price to £269,426. But Nationwide's chief economist has now warned that changes in stamp duty this coming spring may cause fluctuations in the market, potentially leading to an increase in transactions early in 2025 followed by a less active period. Robert Gardner said: 'UK house prices ended 2024 on a strong footing, up 4.7 percent compared with December 2023, though prices were still just below the all-time high recorded in summer 2022. Mortgage market activity and house prices proved surprisingly resilient in 2024 given the ongoing affordability challenges facing potential buyers.' Robert highlighted early-year hurdles such as elevated house prices relative to earnings, which kept the deposit requirements steep, particularly for first-time buyers. He explained: 'Moreover, for many of those with sufficient savings for a deposit, meeting monthly payments was a stretch because borrowing costs remained well above those prevailing in the aftermath of the pandemic. 'For example, a typical mortgage rate for someone with a 25 percent deposit hovered around 4.5 percent for much of the year, three times the 1.5 percent prevailing in late 2021, before the Bank of England started to raise the bank rate'
Singapore Singapore Latest News, Singapore Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: MENnewsdesk - 🏆 23. / 69 Read more »
Source: i newspaper - 🏆 8. / 89 Read more »
Source: Daily_Record - 🏆 9. / 89 Read more »