Is the jump in house prices just a Brexit bounce, or is it more durable?

UK house prices rose sharply in January. Some of that is down to the end of Brexit uncertainty – but not all. There is a real risk that prices will keep on climbing. John Stepek looks at what’s driving the rise.

(Image credit: 2014 Getty Images)

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UK house prices are clearly benefiting from a relief rally. The latest data suggests that prices rose solidly in January. This isn’t what we’d hoped for. We’d hoped that prices would flatten and lag behind wage growth. So is this just a temporary rebound? Or are we warming up for another boom?

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John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.