Halifax gives £4,290 boost to people who live in flats

People who live in detached homes have been handed an £8,000 boost by Halifax. The bank found in cash terms, detached homes increased by the most in price, by £8,853 on average in the year to February. The average price for a flat rose by £4,290.

The bank's research found there has been a switch in demand, reversing the "race for space" seen during Covid. In the year to February, the average price of a flat increased by 2.7 per cent, while the average terraced property value rose by 2.6 per cent, Halifax said.

Prices for semi-detached and detached homes increased at lower rates, rising by 1.7 per cent and 2.0 per cent respectively. Halifax added that a "resilient" first-time buyer market has also helped.

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Amanda Bryden, head of Halifax Mortgages, said: "As interest rates have stabilised and buyers adjust to the new economic reality of owning a home, one way to compensate for higher borrowing costs is to target smaller properties. This is especially true among first-time buyers, who have proven to be resilient over recent years, and now account for the largest proportion of homes purchased with a mortgage in almost 30 years.

"We see this reflected in property prices for the first few months of this year, with the value of flats rising most sharply, closing the 'growth gap' on bigger properties that's existed for most of the last four years." The figures were released as property website Zoopla said it expects around 100,000 more property sales to take place this year than in 2023, with around 1.1 million sales in 2024 versus one million in 2023.

Zoopla said that housing markets in southern England and the East Midlands are particularly likely to be continuing to register price falls. Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla said: "The pipeline of sales is growing and we expect 100,000 more people to move home in 2024 than last year."