Property market ‘grinding to a halt’

Figures from Nationwide show that house prices rose 3% year-on-year in March, outdoing the 2.3% increase recorded in February. On a month-by-month basis, UK house prices were up 0.8% in March, compared with a 0.3% climb in February. The average house price in the UK hit £219,583 in March. Wales had the biggest increase at 6.4% in the first quarter. Prices in London rose 1%. On an annual basis in England, house prices increased by 1.9%, with regions except the North seeing price growth of between 0% and 5% - in the North prices were down 0.3%. In Scotland and Northern Ireland they rose by 0.8% and 0.7% respectively. Nationwide notes that the figures gauge the period just before the coronavirus outbreak started to impact the market, with the bank saying housing market activity is “grinding to a halt”.

The Daily Telegraph (02/03/2020) Daily Mail (02/03/2020)  The Times (02/03/2020)