U.K. house prices rebounds in May, prices rises likely to remain sluggish over remainder of 2018

U.K. house prices recovered in May, rising 1.5 percent on a sequential basis. This partly reversed the 3.1 percent sequential fall the previous month, showed the Halifax. However, the underlying trend continues to remain widely flat, with prices rising just 0.2 percent three-month-on-three month and barely changed since late summer.

The Halifax recorded weak activity, saying that while supply continues to be constrained, with new instructions falling for the 26th straight month, demand fell for the 13th month in row. Property values rose just 1.9 percent year-on-year, in agreement with alternative measures from the likes of rival Nationwide and official ONS data that the growth of prices has decelerated markedly since the beginning of 2017.

 “The softening of mortgage approvals for home purchases, a proxy for demand, since the start of the year suggests price rises are set to remain sluggish over the rest of the year. However, despite the Brexit slow-motion car-crash, there's still no sign of any national downwards adjustment in house prices”, stated Daiwa Capital Market Research.

At 20:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of British Pound was neutral at 25.4153, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at -18.1881. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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