(Bloomberg) --
U.K. house prices posted their biggest gain this year in July, pushing the average cost of purchasing a home to a record amid pent-up demand and government incentives.
Average house prices rose 1.6% from June to an average of 241,604 pounds ($316,720), mortgage lender Halifax said Friday, after the longest run of declines in a decade. From a year earlier, prices gained 3.8%.
The housing market was all but shuttered for weeks during the nation's lockdown, prompting Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak's decision to temporarily waive the tax on the first 500,000 pounds of any property purchase.
“Confidence is currently growing, the immediate future for the housing market looks brighter than many might have expected three months ago,” said Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax. “However, looking further ahead, there is still a great deal of uncertainty around the lasting impact of the pandemic. A weakening in labor market conditions would lead us to expect greater downward pressure on prices in the medium-term.”
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