House price inflation – the cost of buying a home is 10.5% more expensive than 12 months ago

Double digit house price inflation – Market still sluggish but under supply means the cost of buying a home is 10.5% more expensive than 12 months ago

The Nationwide Building Society has said that house price growth has gone into double figures for the first time in three years. Its figures revealed that UK house prices went up by 10.5% in the year to the end of April, the highest since June 2007. The rise left the price of the average home at £167,802.

However Nationwide believe that the price surge will not last and by the end of the year sellers will begin to outnumber buyers. Despite the new figures, activity in the property market is still sluggish with the average first-time buyer having to put down a 25% deposit to secure a mortgage. Recent figures from HM Revenue & Customs show that completed sales in the UK rose by 22% in March but that that was the lowest March figure since HMRC current records began in 1978.