U.K. House Prices Slipped 0.1% in June From May, Halifax Says

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. house prices slipped for a fourth month in June as the country started to emerge from lockdown.

Average house prices fell 0.1% to an average of 237,616 pounds ($300,000), Halifax said Tuesday, the longest run of declines in a decade. From a year earlier, prices gained 2.5%. New mortgage inquiries rose 100% on the month.

Britain is slowly lifting the restrictions put in place to contain the coronavirus that brought most economic activity to a halt in the second quarter. The outlook for the housing activity depends on how quickly things return to normal and is far from certain.

“Activity levels bounced back strongly,” said Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax. “Whilst encouraging, it remains too early to say if this level of activity will be sustained. We do expect greater downward pressure on prices in the medium-term, the extent of which will depend on the success of government support measures and the speed at which the economy can recover.”

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A separate report from Barclaycard Payments showed some signs of a recovery. Spending at pubs and bars climbed 300% from a week earlier as they reopened over the July 4 weekend, with a 19% overall increase in transactions from and a 7% gain in total value spent.

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