LONDON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The average house price in Britain hit 253,374 pounds (about 343,721 U.S. dollars) in December 2020, marking a fresh record high after consecutive months of increase, the mortgage lender Halifax said Friday.
The house prices in December were 0.2 percent higher than that of the previous month, or 6.0 percent higher year-on-year, according to the Halifax's House Price Index.
"Average houses prices rose again in December, stretching the current run of continuous gains to six months," said Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax.
Galley said the monthly growth of 0.2 percent was "significantly down on the 1.0 percent increase in November", adding that although the average house price was little changed, it still "reached a fresh record".
According to Galley, the soared prices were the result of "pent-up demand, a desire amongst buyers for greater space and the time-limited incentive of the stamp duty holiday".
"In the near-term, and with mortgage approvals still sitting at a 13-year high, there may be enough residual strength in the market to sustain prices up to the deadline for the stamp duty holiday and the scaling back of Help to Buy at the end of March," said Galley.
However, Galley added that "downward pressure on house prices remains likely as we move through 2021," as the economic recovery is expected to be constrained by the further national lockdown and unemployment is widely predicted to rise in the coming months.
Halifax's House Price Index came as Britain reported a further 1,162 coronavirus-related deaths in the latest 24-hour period, the highest daily death toll since April 21, official figures showed Thursday.
This brought the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain to 78,508, the data showed.
Britain also recorded another 52,618 coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 2,889,419, the data showed.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
