Nationwide House Price Index
The latest House Price Index from Nationwide reports that average values were down -3.1% year-on-year in March, which it says mark the largest annual decline since July 2009. Its figures also suggest that, month-on-month, average prices fell by -0.8%. (The full report in PDF format can be downloaded here.)
Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: “The housing market reached a turning point last year as a result of the financial market turbulence which followed the mini-budget. Since then, activity has remained subdued.” However, the Index also shows significant regional variation; annual growth was still positive in the West Midlands (+1.4%), Northern Ireland (+1.3%) the East Midlands (+0.5%) and the South West (+0.5%). Across northern England overall, prices were flat.
Findings & extracts:
“It will be hard for the market to regain much momentum in the near term since consumer confidence remains weak and household budgets remain under pressure from high inflation.”
By an examination of the quarterly data, Scotland “remained the weakest performing region with prices down -3.1% compared with a year ago, a sharp slowing from the +3.3% year-on-year increase the previous quarter.”
“East Anglia, which was the strongest performing region last quarter, saw a significant slowdown, with prices falling -1.8% year-on-year, making it the weakest performing English region. The neighbouring Outer South East saw a -1.5% year-on-year decline, while London saw a -1.4% fall.”
By comparison with other significant indices, Nationwide reports the poorest average capital growth rates. Other sources are more positive. For example, Halifax reports average annual gains of +2.1%, ONS reports +6.3% (January data), and Rightmove reports +3.0%.
Please contact us if you want to discuss.