LONDON (Reuters] – British property prices rose in April for the tenth straight month, but the annual rate growth was slightly slower than that of March’s 15-year record, Halifax figures showed Friday.

The monthly increase in house prices was a substantial 1.1%, down from 1.5% March. They were also 10.8% higher than last year in April, just below the 11.2% peak recorded in February. This is the highest annual rise since June 2007.

Although house prices have not shown any signs of falling due to the consumer price inflation rise of 7.0% over 30 years, it is still a significant cost-of living problem as rising prices exceed pay growth.

However, this could soon change as the Bank of England has predicted that inflation will exceed 10% by year’s end and that the economy may shrink dramatically in the third quarter of 2022.

According to financial markets, rates will rise up to 2% to 1% in December after the BoE raised interest rates by 25% on Thursday.

Russell Galley, Halifax managing director, said that it was impossible to ignore the headwinds facing other economies.

He said that “the house price to income ratio has already reached its highest level” and that with inflation and rising interest rates, it is likely that house prices will continue to grow.