As expected, UK house prices increased for the sixth month in a row in July. According to The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), demand grew for property at the fastest pace since February 2014. There is little sight of a solution to combat the every growing demand for property against a falling supply.

According to RICS, estate agents averaged 47 property sales for July. Of course, the rising house prices are making it harder for people to become home owners. Perhaps the only saving grace of the situation is that currently mortgages are attached to very low interest rates. Some lenders are offering historically low interest rates for their lending institution, but that could be changing soon.

The cost of funding for lenders is growing and that will, according to experts, push lenders to pull their cheapest deals including mortgages and remortgages.

There are also warnings that the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be hiking the standard base interest rate at the beginning of next year. This could be putting the rush on homebuyers to shop around for property, shop for a mortgage and begin the process for approval as soon as possible. Closing the process for a mortgage and remortgage takes longer now than it did a few years ago with new regulations, so time is of the essence for those who are newly entering the market.

Meanwhile, homeowners are benefitting from the rising house prices with increases in their properties’ equity levels; this is allowing very attractive cash equity release remortgages. The cash released can be used at the homeowner’s discretion, for instance a high priced ticket item, a holiday abroad, a new car, refurbishing of the home, or to pay down debt.

Experts do not foresee any change to the trend currently in the house market with further house price growth forecasted throughout the end of the year.