U.K. House Prices Slip in May Amid Lockdown Freeze, Halifax Says

(Bloomberg) --

U.K. house prices declined for a third month in May as the coronavirus lockdown put transactions on hold.

Average house prices fell 0.2% to an average of 237,808 pounds ($300,000), Halifax said Friday. From a year earlier, prices gained 2.6%, the slowest pace since November.

The lockdown brought most of the economy to a halt, including property viewing and transactions. The measures to stop the pandemic started gradually being lifted in the middle of May, which may spur more activity in the next few months.

“We expect market activity to increase progressively as restrictions are eased further” and “we continue to have confidence in the underlying health of the housing market over the long-term,” said Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax. “However, the extent of downward pressure on market confidence and prices over the coming months will depend on how quickly the economy is able to recover.”

Calculating the figures remains difficult amid a dearth of transactions, Halifax said.

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