LONDON – Asking prices for British homes slipped by 0.6% this month as the market entered its usual lull ahead of the Christmas holidays, but they are expected to resume their rise next year, a survey showed on Monday.
Online property portal Rightmove said the average asking price, which is not adjusted for seasonal variations, stood at 342,401 pounds ($459,057) in November – up 6.3% in annual terms.
Asking prices have fallen in each November since 2007 as the market enters an end-of-year slowdown before activity picks up again after the holidays.
“That is likely to push prices higher again, and increase the competition from other buyers,” said Tim Bannister, Rightmove director of property data.
A survey of chartered surveyors last week showed house price inflation in Britain picked up last month, propelled by a shortage of sellers that also suggested further price rises lay ahead.
Other surveys have similarly pointed to continued house price growth since July when a year-long exemption from the stamp duty tax on house purchases was halved in scale in England and Northern Ireland and expired altogether in Wales.
Scotland ended the incentive in April and it expired in its entirety in England and Northern Ireland at the end of September.
($1 = 0.7459 pounds)
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by William Schomberg)
