Bank’s head of mortgages says market showing ‘resilience’ despite global uncertainty

House prices edged down in April as inflation fears pushed up borrowing costs.

According to the Halifax house price index, the average property price stood at £299,313 in April, down 0.1% month-on-month. This followed a 0.5% fall in March.

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Source: Shutterstock

The growth rate in the year to April slowed to 0.4% from 0.8% in March.

Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages, Halifax, said that after a “strong start to the year, recent global developments have added a greater degree of uncertainty to the outlook”.

She said higher energy prices had fed into inflation expectations, with impacts for expected interest rates.

This shift in market forecasts, she said, had “already pushed up borrowing costs for many buyers”. 

“This understandably leads to more caution among some households, with the cost-of-living once again front of mind and extra thought being given to planned property moves,” said Bryden.

Nevertheless, she said the housing market continued to display “resilience” and that the “underlying picture remains one of relative stability, supported by wage growth that continues to outpace house price inflation”.