Data published by Nationwide Building Society showed that housing prices rose by 0.2% in June, slowing compared to May (+0.4%). Economists had expected prices to remain unchanged. In annual terms, house prices rose by 1.5% after an increase of 1.3% in May. This was the fifth increase in a row. Consensus estimates also suggested an increase of 1.5%. As a result, the average price of a typical home (not seasonally adjusted) was 266,604 pounds compared to 264,249 pounds in May. Nationwide said that house prices are now around 3% below the all-time highs recorded in the summer of 2022, after taking account of seasonal effects.
“Housing market activity has been broadly flat over the last year, with the total number of transactions down by around 15% compared with 2019 levels. While earnings growth has been much stronger than house price growth in recent years, this hasn’t been enough to offset the impact of higher mortgage rates, which are still well above the record lows prevailing in 2021 in the wake of the pandemic. As a result, housing affordability is still stretched," said Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist.