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UK house prices cooling say Nationwide

By Angelique Ruzicka

House prices have risen by only 0.2% as house price inflation slows down to 17.8% reveal figures by Nationwide Building Society this week. In its quarterly house price report, it shows that September’s rise was slightly up from August’s rise of 0.1%, the weakest increase in three years.

Alex Bannister, group economist for Nationwide said: “Bank of England data confirmed that the level of housing market activity was subdued in August with the number of house purchase mortgage approved falling to 96,000 from around 125,000 per month over the spring period. Activity is set to remain at lower levels over coming months as home purchasers continue to adopt a cautious approach.”

The report warned that buyers who were keen to ‘trade up’ or move up the property level would be doing so in the toughest conditions for 10 years. It said the average house price now stood at £153,727.

It showed that regional inflation remained “broadly unchanged” from July to September compared to the same period a year ago. Prices hiked up mainly in the north, particularly in Wales , the North and North West . Wales saw a year on year increase of 35%, while the North saw 30% increase and the North West 28%. London and the outer metropolitan areas saw the lowest increases of 11% and 10% respectively.

The building society forecasts that for December this year, house price inflation will remain at 15%. For 2005, Nationwide said it expects to see continued subdued growth with the faster growing regions like the North and Wales experiencing the sharpest slowdown in price.