House price rises sped up in July, says Nationwide
The pace of increase in UK house prices accelerated in July, rising by 3.5% compared with a year earlier, according to the Nationwide.
The building society said that the annual change picked up from 3.3% a month earlier.
Property values rose by 0.4% in July compared with June, taking the cost of the average home to £195,621.
IC -By Graeme Davies, - 16 july 2015
Booming housing market conditions, particularly in the east end of London, have led to another strong trading update from Telford Homes (TEF). It has achieved 218 open market sales since 1 April and now has forward sales secured for the year to March 2016 worth £620m, more than three and a half times ahead of last year. Buy.
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Demand for housing remained "encouraging", the report said, but supply strength was "unclear".
Nationwide's chief economist Robert Gardner said: "The number of new homes under construction has started to pick up, albeit from historically low levels, and further increases are required if a sustainable recovery in the housing market is to be maintained over the longer term."
Mr Gardner said that the house price growth might be "stabilising close to the pace of earnings growth" which had historically been around 4% a year.
Estate agents and analysts point out that the market could be affected by a potential change in interest rates at the turn of the year.
"The one blot on the horizon is a potential interest rate rise, which may slow down the mainstream market as buyers become concerned that their mortgage will cost more," said Jonathan Adams, director of estate agency Napier Watt.
"Buyers often do not realise the impact of a rate rise until the first one actually happens."
