UK annual house price growth slows to 3.9% in February - Nationwide

(Alliance News) - Annual UK house price growth slowed slightly in February, with the market ...

Alliance News 28 February, 2025 | 9:52AM
Email Form Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS

(Alliance News) - Annual UK house price growth slowed slightly in February, with the market remaining "resilient" in the face of "affordability challenges", numbers on Friday showed.

According to mortgage lender Nationwide, UK house prices rose 3.9% on-year this month, the pace of growth fading from 4.1% in January.

On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.4% in February, after a 0.1% improvement in January from December. It is the sixth successive monthly rise in prices.

"Housing market activity has also remained resilient in recent months, despite ongoing affordability challenges. Indeed, the second half of 2024 saw a noticeable pick up in total housing transactions, which were up 14% compared with the same period in 2023. However, taking 2024 as a whole, transactions were still modestly, 6%, lower than the levels prevailing before the pandemic struck in 2019," Nationwide analyst Robert Gardner commented.

"In terms of the pattern of transactions, it is notable that first-time buyer activity continued to recover, with mortgage completions in 2024 just 5% below 2019 levels. This represents a solid performance, given the interest rate environment – for example, five-year fixed mortgage rates are currently around 4.4% (for borrowers with a 25% deposit) compared to 2% in 2019."

Gardner expects changes to stamp duty in April to lead to some housing market "volatility".

From the end of March, the temporary increase in the zero-rate stamp duty thresholds will end. For first-time buyers of a home under GBP500,000, the zero-rate band falls to GBP300,000 from GBP425,000 currently. For other home buyers, the threshold is to be reduced to GBP125,000 from GBP250,000. The measures were announced by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the October autumn budget.

By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Email Form Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS

About Author

Alliance News

Alliance News provides Morningstar with continuously updating coverage of news affecting listed companies.

© Copyright 2025 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.

Terms of Use        Privacy Policy        Modern Slavery Statement        Cookie Settings        Disclosures