February House Prices Indicate Accelerating Pace of Property Prices
A wide range of opinions regarding the short term of the UK housing market remains spattered about as we begin the third month in the first quarter of the New Year. Pace of growth of house prices remains a hot subject in which everyone is weighing in. The latest data indicates forecasts of house price growth were marginally off for the month of February as house prices increased faster than expected.
According to Nationwide, house prices increased during the month of February by 0.6%. This is a faster increase than expected, especially when comparing it to the increase which took place in the month of January, which was 0.2%.
Many close to the housing market estimating the next direction of the market have been not able to closely predict what has happened. In the months leading up to the actual Brexit, forecasts and estimates have widely varied. There currently exists an unbalanced market which is simply hard to predict.
Resilience is still the best word to describe what is taking place in the market. Some, like George Osborne have warned of a possible slowdown which could take place following the vote last June.
Robert Gardner of Nationwide commented on what he believes will take place in the coming months, saying: "Nevertheless, in our view a small rise in house prices of around 2 percent is more likely than a decline over the course of 2017, since low borrowing costs and the dearth of homes on the market will continue to support prices.”