Housing market defies winter slowdown with price increases: MAB

Although growth was limited, MAB expected to see a slight cool-down in prices in the run up to the holidays as is seasonally the norm, adding the fact that most areas saw a small increase in prices suggests that consumer confidence "remained undimmed" by the 25 bps rise.

The data shows that the average purchase price in November rose slightly to £248,202 from £246,782, a 0.6% month on month increase.

Conversely, first-time buyer prices dropped very slightly to £192,464, a fall of 0.4% on the previous month.

The average remortgage loan size also decreased to £174,402, a 1% fall on the previous month as people rushed to remortgage before the anticipated rate rise.

Brian Murphy, Head of Lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau, commented: "The story of 2017 has been a lack of available properties for sale in many areas, which has created upwards pressure on prices that has been evident in most regions.

"Of course, this is a double edged sword; great news for the homeowner who is sat on an appreciating asset, but very difficult for those who want to get on or move up the property ladder, particularly given that wage growth hasn’t kept in line with property values.

"In contrast we’ve seen that prices and activity in areas such as London and the South East have cooled in the last few months, which hopefully will assist those who wish to purchase around the capital. However, where property affordability and perhaps a better lifestyle conjuncts with improved transport links, such as the West Midlands and East of England, and buyers can get more for their money yet still reasonably commute into the City, we’re seeing a pattern of these areas still experiencing price increases, a picture which is quite likely to continue for some time to come. According to HMRC’s figures, we’ve seen a steady number of transactions over 100,000 every month this year, which does underscore continued demand.

"In terms of the market going forward, it’s still too early to tell if the recent introduction of the SDLT exemption for first-time buyers will make as much of an impact as the Government hopes, or if any saving will be mitigated by the price of properties coming to market that would fall within the exemption amounts being marketed at a premium due to a rise in demand, which has also been predicted by some in the industry.

"What is safe to say is that, in a year where we saw many potentially disruptive factors such as Article 50 being triggered, coupled with an ongoing economic backdrop which at best could have been described as cautious, instead of bringing the UK property market to its knees, it’s remained consistent and reasonably steady in real terms, which will provide us with a stable start to 2018."