November 1, 2011
House Price Boost
House prices picked up a surprise 0.4% in October, Nationwide reported this morning, bringing them to 0.8% higher than they were a year go. But Nationwide warned that, whilst this was welcome news, the outlook remains uncertain.
The Nationwide report was also at odds with the warning that an acceleration in house price falls lies ahead, according to the latest Hometrack report.
The survey, covering October, shows house prices tiptoed down 0.2% in the month, after falls of 0.1% in each of the previous five months. The annual fall is 2.8%.
There was also an increase in the number of postcode areas where house prices fell, from 25% in September to 34% in October.
And for the first time in seven months, Hometrack reports no growth in London house prices.
The Hometrack report concludes: “A slowdown in the capital will impact the scale of price changes nationally in the months ahead.”
The report also notes a rise in property listings, with supply having grown 11% in the last six months, whilst demand slackened slightly by 0.2% during October. Demand has fallen in each of the last three months. Time on the market lengthened to 9.8 weeks during October.
