LONDON: British house prices rose 6.0% in December, the slowest annual rate in four months, and there is likely to be more downward pressure later in 2021 after a surge last year, mortgage lender Halifax said on Friday.

House prices were 6% higher in December than a year previously, Halifax said, following a 7.6% rise in November that was the largest in four-and-a-half years. In December alone, prices rose 0.2% - the smallest month-on-month rise for six months. Britain’s housing market boomed after the first COVID-19 lockdown as buyers sought bigger houses with gardens. Earlier this week the Bank of England said mortgage approvals in November topped 100,000 for the first time since 2007.

—Reuters