December boost pushes house prices out of year-long slump
A BIG December jump in house prices has managed to erase most of the downward movement seen in the market over 2012, data suggested yesterday.
The average house price rose 1.3 per cent going into December, Halifax said yesterday, a monthly climb that contradicts earlier data from Rightmove and Nationwide, which both suggested 2012’s final month had been weak.
This monthly rise drove the quarterly measure into positive territory for the first time in seven months – prices were up 0.6 per cent between October and December compared to the previous three months.
But the big monthly and quarterly gains could not push the annual change above zero, and prices were still 0.3 per cent lower in December 2012 than in December 2011, according to Halifax.