Housing shows recovery trail - just - Halifax

The July House Price Index from the lender finds the annual rate of house price inflation continues to slow, dropping to 2.3% during July, its smallest rate of growth since April 1996. Halifax says the standardised average house price in the UK is at £162,994, with affordability in line with the long-run historical average. It predicts the cut in interest rates, announced yesterday by the Bank of England, will reduce mortgage payments as a proportion of gross income for the average new borrower from 20% to 19%, in line with the average spanning two decades and well under the 34% peak i...