Nationwide reports UK house prices creep upwards
Tuesday, 29 November 2011 09:46
New data from Nationwide has shown that house prices have increased by 0.4 per cent in November, meaning they are now 1.6 per cent higher than a year ago at £165,798.
This is in contrast to October, when they had only grown by 0.8 per cent based on the same month in 2010.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "House prices have remained surprisingly resilient in recent months, despite the deterioration in the economic outlook.
"But, with the UK economic recovery expected to remain sluggish well into 2012, house price growth is likely to remain soft, with prices moving sideways or drifting modestly lower over the next twelve months."
He pointed out that factors which normally provide demand for new homes have deteriorated lately with job losses, wage freezes and low consumer confidence affecting the market.
However, Nationwide's figures come just a day after Land Registry's House Price Index for October showed property costs to have decreased by 3.2 per cent in a year, with its average coming out at £159,999.
Nicholas Ayre, director of the home buying agency Home Fusion, said the new Nationwide data "is about as misleading as it gets".
He claimed the Land Registry study is "far more accurate", with Nationwide's bearing "scant resemblance to reality".
"The ongoing low interest rate and the improved availability of mortgages are rare glimmers of hope amid a fog of economic negatives," Mr Ayre concluded.
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