Housing market may be cooling
January 30, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
There are very early signs that the UK housing market may be slowing down.
That is according to Nationwide Building Society, which says house price growth in January was the lowest it has been for eight months.
According to the firm, prices increased by just 0.3 per cent in January, a significant drop on the 1.2 per cent increase seen in December.
“House prices increased by just 0.3 per cent in January, the smallest monthly rise since May last year, which pulled the annual rate of house price growth back into single digits,” said Fionnuala Earley from Nationwide.
“Prices increased at an annual rate of 9.3 per cent in January, down from 10.5 per cent last month.”
The building society has also predicted that house prices will remain firm despite the recent rise in interest rates and the possibility of further rises in the year ahead.
“2007 started off with a bang as the Bank of England raised interest rates for the third time in six months. Only time will tell how much the surprise decision will affect sentiment in the housing market,” added Ms Earley.
The average price of a house in the UK currently stands at £173,225, down from the £173,746 price in December.
