LONDON (MktNews) - UK house prices rose modestly in December, reversing November's fall, data released Monday by online property specialists Rightmove.co.uk. showed. Rightmove said house prices in December rose 0.6% on the month and 22.1% on the year. In November they fell 0.2% on the month, after rising 2.7% in October.
"The market continues flat, with a modest rise this month following the slight fall last month," Rightmove said. It noted that transactions have fallen, as would be expected at this time of the year, and will remain low until mid-January. "The prospects for 2003 remain finely balanced, and the first real indicator of the prospects for the year will be our February report," Rightmove said.
The increase in house prices in the Rightmove survey was well below that recorded in the previous month's surveys by mortgage lenders Halifax and Nationwide. Halifax said house prices rose 1.4% on month in November and 29.2% on the year, and Nationwide said they were up 2% on the month and 25.5% on the year. It noted that most forecasts for 2002 had been wildly inaccurate and that those for next year will likely prove equally unreliable. House prices in London overall fell 2.6% on the month, with all the gains made since early May to mid-November wiped out. But it noted that the pattern of gains and losses has been mixed, with sizeable gains in some of the cheaper boroughs and falls in the more expensive ones.
The year has seen prices in every southern region of the country rise more slowly than in northern regions, it noted. Most of the north has risen 30%, with only the west midlands lagging at 22.8%, while in the south, no region grew more than 20%, with London up only 11.4%. //www.marketnews.com