Nationwide: House prices up 1.1 percent in June

According to a new survey from Nationwide, house prices grew by 1.1 percent in June, more of an advance than had been expected. The new numbers show that prices are going up twice as rapidly as they were last year and are £18,000 higher than they were this time last year to an average of £184,000. The gain took the annual rate of house price growth to 11.1 percent in June. The annual rate was at 10.3 percent in May. Despite the new data, Nationwide says that it is standing by its forecast that house prices will grow between 5 percent and 8 percent this year.

Nationwide’s chief economist, Fionnuala Earley, said that the housing market looks to be “softening” despite the June numbers. She pointed out that estate agents are reporting a decline in the number of people looking for homes and blamed that on the recent hikes in interest rates. She also said that the June price growth numbers will likely add to sentiment to raise rates again soon, something that many analysts believe will happen in August, if not next week at the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee’s upcoming July meeting.

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