Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, pointed out that the annual pace of house price growth remains in the fairly narrow range between 3% and 5% that has been prevailing for much of the past 12 months.
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The gap in average prices between the South and the North of England has increased to almost £169,000, an increase of £24,000 from past year.
On an annual basis prices rose 5.1 percent, beating expectations for a 4.9 percent rise and compared to 4.7 percent in the previous month.
In the capital, values soared by 9.9 per cent over the past three months- and are now around 54 per cent above pre-crisis levels, compared with 10 per cent for overall United Kingdom house prices.
Seperate data showed that Bank of England mortgage approvals unexpectedly rose in May to 67,042. The decline has been fuelled by fears that uncertainty will prompt consumers to delay homebuying decisions, weighing on house prices, while longer-term economic weakness could also set in.
Nationwide said that it was too early to assess the impact of the referendum on the economy, but the lack of homes on the market would provide support for prices even if demand softens.
He added: “Regional house price trends also maintained the pattern prevailing in recent quarters, with southern areas of England recording the fastest rates of house price growth in Q2”. The immediate impact is likely to be a fall in housing turnover and a rapid deceleration in house price growth as buyers adopt a wait and see the short-term impact on financial markets and the economy at large.
The survey shows the split between prices in the north and south of England widened compared to a year ago.
Scotland recorded a small annual increase in house prices, with a 0.5% uplift taking average values there to £141,245.
“Unfortunately this data is about as much use in predicting the future course of the property market as sun-dappled photos of the summer of 1914”, he says.
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Prices were expected to remain flat in June. Demand from potential buyers was down by more than a fifth (21%) compared with May a year ago, the report said. Would-be sellers will be more likely to stay put, and this tightening of supply may prop up prices to a degree, ‘ he pointed out. “The referendum result has since plunged the property market into a “hard reset”, especially in the higher price brackets”, Hopper said.
