June brought a rise in the average price of a house in the UK, which led to an increase in the annual market growth rate, according to the most recent house price index to be published by Nationwide.
This report shows that house prices rose 0.2% over the course of last month. In turn, this meant that the annual growth rate within the UK property market was 1.5% for June, compared with 1.3% for May. Overall, house prices remain roughly 3% lower than they were in summer 2022, but that period brought a record high.
The house price index reveals a healthy picture on a national basis, but the regional one is more varied for the second quarter of this year. While some of the UK regions experienced slight rises in property market growth, others saw it continue to fall compared with the same period for last year.
The region with the best rate of growth was Northern Ireland. There, house prices rose by 4.1% in comparison to the same quarter last year. England experienced an annual growth rate of 0.6%, while in both Scotland and Wales it was 1.4%.
Southern England saw a decline in prices of 0.3%, with East Anglia having the worst figures. In that region, house prices fell by 1.8% when compared to the second quarter of 2023.
Guy Gittins from Foxtons said that political uncertainty was not impacting the housing market.
Mortgage advisors with the CeMAP qualification will be happy to see plenty of housing market activity, but prices remain a challenge.