House price growth at near six-year low

UK house prices grew at the slowest annual rate for nearly six years in January, according to Nationwide, with prices up by just 0.1% from a year earlier, and down from a rate of 0.5% in December. However, month on month prices grew 0.3% at the start of 2019 compared to a 0.7% slip between November and December. The average property price is now £211,966, just £210 more than a year ago. Nationwide said it was likely that the recent slowdown in the market was due to "the impact of the uncertain economic outlook on buyer sentiment". Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, added: "However, if the economy continues to grow at a modest pace, with the unemployment rate and borrowing costs remaining close to current levels, we would expect UK house prices to rise at a low single-digit pace in 2019."

BBC News (31/01/2019)   Financial Times (31/01/2019)