According to Nationwide’s latest house price index based on its mortgage lending, house prices fell in April by 0.4% compared to March. It said that house prices are now around 4% below the all-time highs recorded in the summer of 2022.
The slowdown likely reflects ongoing affordability pressures, with longer term interest rates rising in recent months, revering the steep fall seen around the turn of the year.
Meanwhile, Rightmove’s latest house price index shows that the average asking price of property coming to the market rose by 1.1% (+£4,207) in April to £372,324, just £570 short of the record in May 2023. The annual rate of price growth is now +1.7%, the highest level for 12 months.
The portal says sales of larger homes are a key factor behind this growth towards showing near-record average prices which are seeing the strongest start to the year for price growth since 2014, with sellers up by 18% compared with last year, and the number of sales being agreed up by 20%. However, the market remains price-sensitive, and is operating at different speeds, with prices and activity rising more slowly in the more mortgage dependent first-time buyer and second-stepper sectors.
The number of new sellers coming to the market is up by 12% compared to this time a year ago, and the number of sales being agreed is up by 13% as both seller and buyer activity rebound from last year’s much more subdued Spring.
