UK house price rises picking up, says Halifax - BBC News
A shortage of properties for sale and growth in full-time employment is supporting prices, the lender says.
House prices across the UK have jumped by an average of 4% in the year to September, according to Britain's largest lender, the Halifax.

The rate indicates a pick-up from August, when the Halifax said prices were rising at an annual pace of 2.6%.

The Halifax said the average price of a house or flat in the UK had now risen to a new high of £225,109.

A shortage of properties for sale and growth in full-time employment was supporting prices, it said.

"However, increasing pressure on spending power and continuing affordability concerns may well dampen buyer demand," said Russell Galley, the managing director of Halifax Community Bank.

Rival lender Nationwide has said prices in the year to September rose by 2%.

The Halifax figures are not broken down by region, but other research has indicated that while house price growth is slowing in the south of England, it is rising in parts of the Midlands and the North.

Between August and September, prices rose by 0.8%, the Halifax said, compared to a monthly rise of 1.5% in the previous month.

The 4% annual rise in house prices is calculated by comparing the three months to September with the same three months last year.

Where can you afford to live? Try our housing calculator to see where you could rent or buy This interactive content requires an internet connection and a modern browser. Do you want to buy or rent? Use the buttons to increase or decrease the number of bedrooms: minimum one, maximum four. Alternatively, enter a number into the text input How much is your deposit? Enter your deposit below or adjust the deposit amount using the slider Return to 'How much is your deposit?' This calculator assumes you need a deposit of at least 5% of the value of the property to get a mortgage. The average deposit for UK first-time buyers is . How much can you pay monthly? Enter your monthly payment below or adjust the payment amount using the slider Return to 'How much can you pay monthly?' Your monthly payments are what you can afford to pay each month. Think about your monthly income and take off bills, council tax and living expenses. The average rent figure is for England and Wales. Amount of the that has housing you can Explore the map in detail below Search the UK for more details about a local area What does affordable mean? You have a big enough deposit and your monthly payments are high enough. The prices are based on the local market. If there are 100 properties of the right size in an area and they are placed in price order with the cheapest first, the “low-end” of the market will be the 25th property, "mid-priced" is the 50th and "high-end” will be the 75th.

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