House prices grew in April by a level of 1% according to new data from Nationwide. They report that this is the highest level since June 2014. The average house price is now at £193,048. The annual rate of growth grew for the first time in seven months to 5.2% from 5.1% recorded for the previous month.

Online lister Righmove recently reported a pickup in the number of visits to their site by potential buyers. They reached a record high for visitations which could indicate future growth in the number of buyers in the market. Meanwhile, the number of properties put onto the market by sellers has declined.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, remarked on the current state of the housing market saying, “The strength of the economy and relatively subdued pace of activity in the housing market remains something of an anomaly.

“It is possible that heightened uncertainty ahead of the election is weighing on activity, though there is no compelling evidence from previous UK elections to suggest a strong impact. Healthy labour market conditions and continued low mortgage rates should help underpin housing demand in the quarters ahead.”

Homeowners interested in a remortgage and waiting to take action should be on alert to the possibility of the housing market and in turn the lending market seeing a boost post-election. This will change the current competitiveness between lenders and record low interest rate deals will begin to be pulled.

Next week, when the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee meets for the May session to discuss the current standard base rate, they are expected to keep the rate steady with no change. This does not mean that lenders will do the same for once borrowers return to the mortgage and remortgage lending market the cheapest interest rates are expected to be pulled making the cost of borrowing more expensive.