UK annual house price growth fastest since December 2022 - Nationwide

UK house prices rose in July at the fastest annual rate since December 2022, according to data released by Nationwide on Thursday.

Annual growth picked up to 2.1% from 1.5% in June. On a monthly basis, house prices increased 0.3% in July following 0.2% growth the month before.

The average price of a home stood at £266,334 last month, versus £266,064 in June.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner noted that prices are still around 2.8% below the all-time highs recorded in the summer of 2022.

"Housing market activity has been holding relatively steady in recent months with the number of mortgages approved for house purchase at around 60,000 per month," he said.

"While this is still circa 10% below the level prevailing before the pandemic struck, it is still a respectable pace given the higher interest rate environment."

Andrew Wishart, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "The third consecutive small monthly rise in house prices in July was a bit stronger than we had anticipated and suggests house prices are shrugging off the slight rise in mortgage rates in the first half of the year.

"Paired with the fall in interest swap rates over the past month, that means house prices could gather momentum earlier than we thought."