"Considering the number of disruptions within the economy across the last few years, it’s extremely encouraging to see stability across the housing sector."
- Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark
UK house prices fell by 0.2% month-on-month in August, but the annual rate of house price growth continued to edge higher according to the latest Nationwide house price index.
Average prices were up 2.4% year-on-year, up from the 2.1% recorded in July and the fastest pace since December 2022 (2.8%). However, prices are still around 3% below the all-time highs recorded in the summer of 2022.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "While house price growth and activity remain subdued by historic standards, they nevertheless present a picture of resilience in the context of the higher interest rate environment and where house prices remain high relative to average earnings (which makes raising a deposit more challenging).
“Providing the economy continues to recover steadily, as we expect, housing market activity is likely to strengthen gradually as affordability constraints ease through a combination of modestly lower interest rates and earnings outpacing house price growth."
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, commented: “Considering the number of disruptions within the economy across the last few years, it’s extremely encouraging to see stability across the housing sector. When politicians return from their summer recess in September, it is essential to see progression in delivering nearly two million homes across the next parliamentary term as promised by the UK Government. The starting block for this is ensuring the Planning and Infrastructure Bill takes robust shape to help ensure supply keeps pace with current housing demand."
Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent, Colby Short, added: “Patience has certainly been a virtue for UK home sellers in recent times, but there’s no doubt that they are now being rewarded, as the UK property market continues to demonstrate a high level of resilience with yet another annual increase in property values and the largest increase since December 2022.
"This growth is being driven by an uplift in buyer activity and whilst this has been building since the start of the year, we’ve certainly seen it step up a gear since the general election.”
