Date issued: 30 Jul 2009
HOUSE PRICES UP FOR THIRD MONTH IN A ROW
- House prices rose by 1.3% in July
- Three month rate of change at highest level since February 2007
- Steep fall in housing construction raises risks of longer term supply shortfalls
| Headlines |
July 2009 |
June 2009 |
| Monthly index * Q1 '93 = 100 |
312.4 |
308.4 |
| Monthly change* |
1.3% |
1.0% |
| Annual change |
-6.2% |
-9.3% |
| Average price |
£158,871 |
£156,442 |
* seasonally adjusted
Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said:
“The price of a typical house rose for the third consecutive month in July, increasing by 1.3% on a seasonally
adjusted basis. The 3 month on 3 month rate of change – generally a smoother indicator of the near term trend –
rose from 1.0% in June to 2.6% in July, the highest level since February 2007. House prices are still 6.2% lower
than 12 months ago, but this represents another sharp improvement from the 9.3% year-on-year decline in June.
Even if prices were to remain unchanged for the rest of 2009, the year-on-year rate would continue to improve
since prices were falling very sharply in the second half of last year. For the first seven months of 2009 as a
whole, prices have risen by a cumulative 1.3%, suggesting there is now a reasonable chance that prices could end
the year slightly higher than where they started. Only a few months ago, such an outcome would have appeared
unthinkable.
For further information please see our July 2009 report (PDF 50KB).
