According to the latest Nationwide House Index, prices have seen +3.2% year on year growth.
It said that, on a monthly basis, average house prices grew by 0.7%, with the average price throughout the month recorded at £266,094, compared with £265,375 in August.
Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said: “UK house prices increased by 0.7% in September, after taking account of seasonal effects.
“This resulted in the annual rate of growth rising from 2.4% in August to 3.2% in September, the fastest pace since November 2022 (4.4%).
“Average prices are now around 2% below the all-time highs recorded in summer 2022.”
The latest Halifax Report echoed the Nationwide report in terms of house prices increasing.
It stated that the average price of a typical home had increased by +0.3%. It also said that the year on year growth was +4.7%.
Amanda Bryden, head of Mortgages at Halifax said “Market conditions have steadily improved over the summer and into early autumn. Mortgage affordability has been easing thanks to strong wage growth and falling interest rates,”
She went on to say – “This has boosted confidence among potential buyers, with the number of mortgages agreed up over 40% in the last year and now at their highest level since July 2022.”
ONS Data also confirmed that house prices had risen for the 6th month in a row.
The latest Rightmove report stated that asking prices ad risen by +0.3%. However, it went on to say that this is much lower than the usual seasonal average of +1.3%.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director of Property Science said – “This month’s subdued price growth, comes as buyer choice soars to a level not seen since 2014. With the ball in the buyer’s court and the pick of a big crop to choose from, sellers need to be pricing competitively to find a buyer, particularly with affordability still very stretched.
The latest Hometrack Report said that house price inflation is at +0.7%. It went on to say – “Home buyers are benefitting from the lowest average mortgage rates for 15 months. This is supporting double digit growth in all the key measures of sales market activity.”
Our Thoughts
Although this is positive reading, on the mortgage side of things it does feel like there has been a slight drop in activity.
This could be due to issues such as some volatility with interest rates and the upcoming Autumn Budget.
The good news is that average mortgage rates are still relatively low compared to the last 12 – 18 months and house prices are slowly, but surely moving in the right direction.
