The property market continues to defy previous predictions of a market crash, as it registered yet further positive price growth.

UK house prices rose 1.2% in November, as buyers rushed to beat the stamp duty holiday deadline, the latest figures from Halifax show.

According to the data, the average price of a home in the UK reached £253,243 last month, 1.2% higher than in October and 7.6% up on November last year.

The mortgage lender added that in the latest quarter – September to November – residential property prices were 3.8% higher than in the preceding three months.

The stamp duty holiday announced in July and pent-up demand after lockdown has fuelled greater demand for housing across the country.

Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, said: “The housing market has been much more resilient than many predicted at the outset of the pandemic, and indeed many households remain confident about further price growth next year.”

But with unemployment rising, he added: “The economic environment continues to look challenging”, and that “a slowdown in housing market activity is likely over the next 12 months.”

The market is unlikely to simmer until the March deadline at least, at which point the urgency of a potential stamp duty saving will vanish and the market should return “to a steadier speed”, according to the director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr.

“No Covid vaccine required for the UK property market as it continues to defy previous predictions of a market crash,” he said.

Group CEO of Enness Global Mortgages, Islay Robinson, concurred: “The current stamp duty holiday has propelled the market back to a full bill of health despite bringing its own problems in the form of market delays as the industry scrambles to cope.

“Of course, the clock is ticking in respect of the holiday and while we should see a reduction in demand come next year, it’s unlikely the market will simply fall off a cliff.”