29/04/2004

UK house prices still rising

The housing boom in the UK has continued throughout April, with house prices rising by more than £100, according to a leading building society.

Nationwide, the UK’s largest building society, said that UK house prices increased by 2.1% during the month, compared to a 1.4% increase in March.

This rise means that the average price of a house in Britain is now £145,918, 18.9% higher than the in the same time period last year.

Last month, Nationwide raised its 2004 house growth price forecast from 9% to 15%. House prices have already risen by more than 7% since the beginning of the year, but Nationwide said that it expected the market to “naturally cool” in the second half of the year, as the impact of interest rates kicked in.

However, the surging rate of house prices has made buying a property simply too expensive for many first-time buyers. The number of properties sold remained high during February this year, at 117,000, but of that number, only 28,000 were first-time buyers.

Nationwide said that it expects the number of first-time buyers to reach 350,000 in 2004, well beneath the figure of 521,000 in 2002. The building society said that it was existing borrowers who were behind the market’s momentum.

The report is expected to increase pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates when the Monetary Policy Committee meets again next week.

(KmcA)

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