Average house prices rose 0.8% in March to stand at £200,251, Nationwide has reported, bringing annual house price inflation to 5.7%.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “There has been a pickup in housing market activity in recent months, with the number of housing transactions and mortgage approvals rising strongly.
“This is likely to have been driven, at least in part, by changes to Stamp Duty on second homes, where buyers have brought forward purchases in order to avoid the additional tax liabilities.
“The pace of house price growth may moderate again. However, it is possible that the recent pattern of strong employment growth, rising real earnings, low borrowing costs and constrained supply will keep the demand/supply balance tilted in favour of sellers and maintain pressure on price growth in the quarters ahead.”
Other analysts seem equally unsure as to whether, post the Stamp Duty rush, prices will drop slightly or continue rising.
The Daily Telegraph seemed sure that the Stamp Duty surcharge will hit purchasers of homes that have ‘granny annexes’, and that this would reduce their prices by 3% – making it a front page lead. The Treasury said it would affect under 0.1% of all transactions.
I have no idea at all where that figure comes from, perhaps Mr Gardner should be asked.
There is very little point everyone keep publishing “average house prices” that are different from each other. There is and can only be one ‘average’
If this is the figure of average price paid by Nationwide customers it ought to be clear that is what the figure quoted is.
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