U.K. House Prices Rise Most in Seven Months, Halifax Says

(Bloomberg) --

U.K. house prices posted their biggest annual gain in seven months in November, according to mortgage lender Halifax.

Average house prices rose 2.1% from a year earlier, bringing the average house price to 234,625 pounds ($308,000), Halifax said in a statement on Friday. On a monthly basis, prices increased by 1%.

Britain's property market has struggled for momentum since the 2016 vote to leave the European Union, and successive delays to the departure have hurt the economy and taken a further toll on the market. A looming general election next week may help lift some of the hesitation, and some recent surveys have showed prices are already beginning to recover.

“While a degree of uncertainty remains evident, it's also clear that buyers and sellers are responding to factors such as improved mortgage affordability and the limited supply of available properties,” said Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax. “Over the medium term we expect the emerging trend of modest gains to continue into next year.”

--With assistance from Andrew Atkinson.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Lucy Meakin, Brian Swint

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