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House prices rise for 12th month in a row

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
03/08/2022

Annual house price growth is still in double digits, despite the cost of living crisis impacting households across the UK

Annual UK house price growth increased slightly in July to 11%, said Nationwide, as prices ticked up 0.1% over the last month.

The average UK house price is now £271,209, said the building society.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, explained: “The housing market has retained a surprising degree of momentum given the mounting pressures on household budgets from high inflation, which has already driven consumer confidence to all-time lows.

“While there are tentative signs of a slowdown in activity, with a dip in the number of mortgage approvals for house purchases in June, this has yet to feed through to price growth.

“We continue to expect the market to slow as pressure on household budgets intensifies in the coming quarters, with inflation set to reach double digits towards the end of the year. Moreover, the Bank of England is widely expected to raise interest rates further, which will also exert a cooling impact on the market if this feeds through to mortgage rates.”

Andrew Montlake, director at broker Coreco, added: “The property market has once again defied economic gravity, with the lack of supply and the robust jobs market without doubt the key drivers. Looking forward, the resilience of the jobs market will be key.

“If the recession many are predicting sees unemployment rise sharply, the property market will invariably take a hit. “