House price growth returns in March
House price growth returned in March following the dip in February, according to Nationwide’s house price index.
The lender has reported prices rose 0.7 per cent in March, following a 0.8 per cent fall in February. The February figure was the first fall for nine months, and was supported by figures from the Halifax and the Land Registry, which reported falls of -1.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.
Nationwide chief economist Martin Gahbauer said the figures over the last two months are ‘consistent with a relatively flat profile for house prices’ and suggest the ‘weakness in house sales at the start of the year may have been due to more than just the snowy weather’.
He predicted that prices are likely to remain fairly stable, but that activity in the market will be low.
The government’s recent decision to freeze stamp duty on homes valued at under £250,000 for first-time buyers would be off some help, he said, but ‘may not be enough on its own for the housing market to make a full recovery’.
Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: ‘The rise in house prices in March according to data released by the Nationwide Building Society today should not come as a surprise. Although more supply has begun to come on to the market, it has yet to reach the level where it is matching demand.’
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