House prices are recovering from a post-April downturn triggered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves' stamp duty increase, official figures have revealed.
The official house price index climbed by 3.7 per cent in the year to June, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which exceeded the 2.7 per cent growth recorded in May, as reported by .
This placed the average º£½ÇÊÓƵ house price at £269,000, with England experiencing higher values of £291,000.
Throughout July, house prices witnessed a 0.9 per cent rise, marking the second successive monthly increase.
Monthly private rents grew by 5.9 per cent over 12 months, sitting marginally beneath the 6.7 per cent expansion observed in June.
ONS head of housing market indices Aimee North commented: "Annual private rents inflation has slowed across the whole of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ for the seventh consecutive month."
Recent data suggests a swift rebound in the housing market following April's 2.4 per cent month-on-month decline, which could generate momentum for forthcoming months.
Zero rate thresholds for stamp duty fell from £250,000 to £125,000, with homebuyers purchasing between £250,000 and £925,000 now required to pay a five per cent levy on property acquired.
First-time buyers receive relief on property values up to £300,000.
House prices turn a corner on 'volatility'
Paige Tao, an economist at PwC º£½ÇÊÓƵ, commented that the housing market was slowly bouncing back from the "volatility" caused by increased stamp duty charges, while Elliott Jordan-Doak from Pantheon Macroeconomics noted that demand remained "broadly unscathed" by additional taxes.
Richard Donnell, Zoopla's executive director, stated that improved access to mortgages was enabling Brits to climb onto the property ladder, with modest rises in house prices likely enhancing affordability.
"Rental growth is slowing and is set to move lower over the rest of the year as affordability acts as a growing brake on rental growth," Donnell remarked.
"House prices inflation is volatile on the ONS measure but remains below the growth in average earnings which is helping to slowly improve affordability."
Economists are predicting further instability due to speculation that the Chancellor is poised to implement major changes to property taxes.
The Treasury is reportedly contemplating the introduction of capital gains taxes on the sale of properties valued above £1.5bn, according to The Times, while a complete replacement of stamp duty with a new tax is also allegedly being considered.
Simon Gerrard, chair of Martyn Gerrard Estate Agents, cautioned that attempts to increase revenue could result in "punishingly high" taxes.
