- Halifax
British house prices declined more steeply than expected in April after the introduction of a new tax on the purchase of rental properties, and the market might start to cool, mortgage lender Halifax said. Average values decreased 0.8% from March, reducing the annual increase to 7.8% from about 11%. On a less-volatile quarterly basis, prices climbed 1.5% from the previous three-month period.
Finance minister George Osborne announced in November that landlords acquiring buy-to-let properties, as well as people buying second homes, would pay a new 3% surcharge from April 1 in an attempt to support first-time buyers, who have struggled to cope with the precipitous pace of house price growth. A record 165,400 UK properties were sold in March ahead of the tax changes, which was 11% more than the previous high in January 2007, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Last week Osborne said that house prices could take a "significant hit" if Britons vote to leave the European Union in a referendum on June 23. Halifax said the average house price in the UK was 212,321 pounds. Halifax expects house prices to continue moderating throughout the rest of this year.
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