UK house prices rise 2.4% in February

British house prices kept on rising in February as boosted by the current sound economic environment and rising consumer confidence, said Halifax, the country's largest mortgage lender on Thursday. According to the monthly house price index of Halifax, house prices in Britain increased by 2.4 percent in February, posing the eleventh monthly increase in the past 12 months. "Several factors appear to have boosted demand, such as the improved economic outlook, unemployment falling faster than expected, improvements in consumer confidence and low interest rates," said Stephen Noakes, Mortgages Director at Halifax. House prices in the three months to February were up 2.1 percent compared with the preceding three months, and jumped 7.9 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, continuing the upward trend in the annual rate. The average house price in February stood at 179,872 pounds, according to Halifax. It believed that the market conditions have added upward pressure on prices, expecting increase of housebuilding to help bring demand and supply into better balance. Figures showed that home sales increased for the ninth successive month in January of this year to 103,440, 30 percent higher than the same period in 2013. The number of mortgage approvals for house purchases -- a leading indicator of completed house sales -- was 11 percent higher in the three months to January than in the previous three months and 42 percent higher than in January last year. However, Noakes pointed out that "continuing pressures on household finances, as earnings fail to keep pace with consumer price inflation, are expected to remain a constraint on the rate of growth of house prices." "We are also seeing signs of a revival in housebuilding, which should help bring supply and demand into better balance and curb upward pressure on prices over the medium and longer terms," he said.