UK housing market 'stable'

The average price of a house in the UK was only marginally lower last month than at the start of the year as the market remained remarkably stable throughout 2011, lender Halifax said today.

The average house price in November was 0.7% lower than in December 2010 at £161,731 (€188,979), which was 0.9% lower than October, the Halifax said.

The bank's housing economist Martin Ellis said: "House prices have remained remarkably stable in 2011 despite the difficult and deteriorating economic climate and the substantial pressure on households' finances."

The housing market has been supported by record low interest rates of 0.5% with the Bank of England reporting a 3% pick-up in the number of mortgages approved to 52,700 in October, the highest number of monthly approvals this year.