UK house price growth eases in September, Nationwide reveals

House prices rose 0.3% month-on-month in September following a 0.6% increase in August. On an annualised basis, house prices grew 5.3% this month after a 5.6% gain in August.

The average price of a home was £206,015.

Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said despite the slowdown annualised house price growth remained within the narrow range of 3% to 6%.

Garndner said weak demand post-Brexit has been matched by a shortage of properties available for sale.

“Survey data indicates that, while new buyer enquiries have remained fairly subdued, the number of homes on the market has remained close to all-time lows, in part due to low rates of construction activity.”

According to Nationwide’s third quarter data, house prices jumped 5.4% year-on-year to £206,346 following a 5.1% increase in the previous quarter.

London continued to be the most expensive area to buy, with prices rising 7.1% in the third quarter to an average of £474,736, although slowing from a 9.9% jump in the second quarter.

The outer metropolitan was the second on the list of priciest areas with prices up 9.6% to £358,153. Prices grew 12.4% in the second quarter.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "We expect house prices to be essentially flat over the final months of 2016. While softer housing market activity is likely to limit house prices, we suspect that the current resilience of the economy and a shortage of properties will prevent prices from falling over the final months of 2016."

Archer added: "However, we believe that a slight dip in house prices is likely in 2017, possibly by around 3%.

"We believe housing market activity is likely to be increasingly pressurized (particularly in 2017) by appreciable uncertainty following the UK’s vote to leave the EU constraining consumer confidence and willingness to engage in major transactions, as well as hampering economic activity."