{"id":118852,"date":"2021-07-28T08:12:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T08:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=118852"},"modified":"2021-07-28T08:12:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T08:12:03","slug":"uk-house-prices-fall-in-july-as-tax-cut-is-scaled-back-nationwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/uk-house-prices-fall-in-july-as-tax-cut-is-scaled-back-nationwide\/","title":{"rendered":"UK house prices fall in July as tax cut is scaled back – Nationwide"},"content":{"rendered":"
LONDON (Reuters) – British house prices fell in July after a coronavirus emergency tax break for buyers was scaled back at the end of June but demand for bigger homes as a result of the pandemic is likely to support the market, mortgage lender Nationwide said.<\/p> In monthly terms, house prices fell by 0.5% from June, their first fall since March, slowing the annual increase to 10.5% from June\u2019s leap of 13.4% which was the steepest rise in 17 years.<\/p>\n Economists polled by Reuters had expected a less marked cooling of the market, predicting prices would rise by 0.6% from June and by 12.1% in annual terms.<\/p>\n Nationwide\u2019s chief economist Robert Gardner said the rush to qualify for the full tax break – housing transactions hit a record in June, according to official data – meant savings from the incentive had been dwarfed by the surge in house prices.<\/p>\n Under the incentive scheme, the first 500,000 pounds ($693,850.00) of any property purchase in England or Northern Ireland were exempt from the stamp duty tax until the end of June. A 250,000 pound tax-free allowance is now running until the end of September<\/p>\n Gardner said July\u2019s slowdown had been expected after the run-up in prices which rose by an average of 1.6% a month over the April-to-June period, more than six times the average monthly gain during the five years before the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cUnderlying demand is likely to remain solid in the near term,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Improved consumer confidence, low borrowing costs and a shortage of homes on the market would provide support for house prices despite an expected rise in unemployment as the government scales back its pandemic jobs support programme.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if the labour market does weaken, there is also scope for shifts in housing preferences as a result of the pandemic to continue to support activity for some time yet,\u201d Gardner said.<\/p>\n ($1 = 0.7206 pounds)<\/p>\n