House Price Growth Slows After 6 Months Upturn

According to the latest Nationwide House Price Index, January saw the annual rate of house price growth slow down from 7.3% pa in December to 6.4% pa. 

The first time the housing market has slowed in 6 months as the stamp duty holiday ends in March.

Month-on-month and after taking account seasonal effects this is the first decline since June 2020 as house prices actually fell by 0.3%.

Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said “As the stamp duty holiday ends, which prompted many people to consider bringing their house purchases forward, a slowdown was to be expected and this reflects the fall in demand. 

Mortgages approvals in 2020 exceeded the amount in 2019 and 2020 saw house price growth end at a 6-year high, even though the economy was around 10% smaller than at the start of 2020, with the unemployment rate around a % point higher”.

Comment

The potential withdrawal of the Stamp Duty Holiday, lockdown, seasonal winter slowdown anyway and many more firms expected to struggle or indeed close with redundancies will make less people ready to make a move.