House Price Growth Less Than 1% For Sixth Consecutive Month

The latest Nationwide House Price Index shows that the rate of annual house price growth remained below 1% for the sixth consecutive month, while on a monthly basis it fell by -0.2%.

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:

“Who would have thought that almost three years on from the EU Referendum the UK property market would be running primarily on a cocktail of first-time buyer demand and low mortgage rates? 

The property market is certainly a mixed bag at present but to say consumer confidence is low is fairly inaccurate. The appetite from home buyers remains strong, however, while we are a nation of aspirational homeowners, we also love to secure a deal, and while Brexit continues to hang over the market savvy buyers will do all they can to knock down the price of a property and save themselves some money.

Once Brexit is done and dusted, they will return to the more traditional bargaining chips of crime rates and other aspects that command a smaller reduction in asking price than the doom and gloom of market uncertainty. 

Until then, we may continue to see the level of house price growth creep up at a slower rate than the norm, but rest assured it will continue to creep up and any investment now will see a return of one kind or another in the medium to long term.” 

Alastair McKee, Managing Director of One77 Mortgages, commented: 

“A sixth consecutive month of muted house price growth doesn’t quite reflect the busy start to the year that we’ve seen across the mortgage space, however slower market conditions in terms of the time its taking to sell mean that any uplift in buyer demand will take a little while longer to reach the surface than it may have done a few years ago. 

While many seasoned homeowners may remain sitting on the fence it’s encouraging to see that the current affordability of mortgage products is helping to boost the number of first-time buyers. Now remains as good a time to buy as any for those with little worry in the short-term appreciation of their investment, as the cost of borrowing remains low and muted price growth means there are some bargains to be had.

While Help to Buy has gone some way in boosting this first-time buyer demand, the lack of address where suitable stock levels are concerned means that any lull in house price growth will be short lived as supply fails to keep pace with demand.”

Source : Insight DIY Team

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