Nationwide: house price growth slows again

Prices have slowed throughout the UK, although annual growth in the south has been strong.

House price growth continued to slow down in December, according to the latest figures from Nationwide.

Prices rose by just 0.2% between November and December, pulling the annual rate of increase down from 8.5% to 7.2%.

The average house price has now dropped from £189,388 to £188,559.

Slowdown across the UK

Nationwide says a slowdown in London prices is not the main reason for the dip in prices in the UK overall.

Chief Economist Robert Gardner said: “Overall, 12 of the 13 UK regions saw the pace of annual price growth slow.”

Annually, London is unsurprisingly the most expensive region, with Northern Ireland the least expensive.

The strongest annual price growth was in the capital, with the weakest in Wales.

Prices in London are now 35% above their London peak, yet in Northern Ireland they are still 47% below that all-time high, although prices in Belfast bucked that trend.

Robert Gardner said: “In many respects the regional pattern prevailing in 2013 remains in evidence, with the South of England recording significantly stronger rates of house price growth than Wales, Scotland and the North of England.”

Property hotspots and notspots

Here are the four top-performing major towns and cities outside of London, according to Nationwide.

Town/city	Annual % change	Average price
St Albans	24%	£494,777
Reading	19%	£318,333
Belfast	17%	£318,333
Nottingham	14%	£174,076

And here are the five major towns and cities where prices rose least this year.

Town/city	Annual % change	Average price
Manchester	0%	£210,685
Leicester	3%	£174,813
Cardiff	4%	£223,086
Sunderland	5%	£149,246
Liverpool	5%	£167,164

Forecast for 2015

Looking ahead to next year, Nationwide said: “If the economic backdrop continues to improve as we and most forecasters expect, activity in the housing market is likely to regain momentum in the months ahead.

“Recent changes to Stamp Duty may also have a modest positive effect on demand, especially in the South of England and Scotland.”

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