LONDON (dpa-AFX) - UK house prices dropped for the first time in five months in June as the government phases out stamp duty holiday, data from Lloyds Bank subsidiary Halifax and IHS Markit showed Wednesday.
House prices decreased 0.5 percent on a monthly basis in June, reversing a 1.2 percent rise in May. The property prices averaged GBP 260,358.
Year-on-year, house price inflation eased to 8.8 percent in June from a 14-year high of 9.6 percent in May.
Russell Galley, Halifax Managing Director, said with the stamp duty holiday now being phased out, it was predicted the market might start to lose some steam entering the latter half of the year.
Galley expects annual growth in prices to have slowed somewhat more by the end of the year, with unemployment expected to edge higher as job support measures unwind, and the peak of buyer demand now likely to have passed.
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