UK house prices rose for a third consecutive month in August, pushing the average price of a property to a record high as momentum returns to the market.<\/p>\n
Prices increased by 0.3% month on month in August \u2013 after a 0.4% rise in July<\/a> and a 0.1% increase in June \u2013 pushing the average cost of a UK home to \u00a3299,331.<\/p>\n The rise was significantly ahead of the 0.1% expected by economists. However, the annual rate of growth slowed to 2.2%, down from 2.5% in July, according to Halifax. Economists had forecast growth of 2% in August.<\/p>\n \u201cThe story of the housing market in 2025 has been one of stability,\u201d said Amanda Bryden, the head of mortgages at Halifax. \u201cSince January, prices have risen by less than \u00a3600, underlining how steady the market has been despite wider economic pressures.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the wider economic picture remains uncertain, the housing market has shown over recent years that it can take these challenges in its stride.\u201d<\/p>\n However, while the average price of a UK property continues to increase, in the south-west of England prices fell by 0.8% over the past year, the first nation or region to record an annual decline since the east of England in July last year.<\/p>\n Northern Ireland continues to lead the UK on house price growth, with average property prices up 8.1% over the past year \u2013 although that represented a slowdown from the 9.3% annual figure recorded the previous month<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Scotland, house prices are up an average of 4.9% over the past year, while there has been 1.6% annual growth in Wales.<\/p>\n London continues to experience modest house price growth, up 0.8% annually, with the highest average property price in the UK at \u00a3541,615.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the number of listings, sales agreed, and stock levels higher than this time last year, and with some banks offering specific help to first-time buyers to take their first step on to the housing ladder, this is a sign that the housing market is holding firm,\u201d said Nathan Emerson, the chief executive at Propertymark.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n However, Emerson said that the government\u2019s mooted plans to overhaul stamp duty<\/a> and potentially make landlords pay national insurance contributions<\/a> could cause some buyers to delay plans to move.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prospect of a stamp duty reform is a powerful incentive which may temper this usual seasonal surge in activity, at least until the dust has settled on the autumn budget,\u201d said Verona Frankish, the chief executive of Yopa.<\/p>\n