Annual house price growth falls in England for first time since 2012

Annual house price growth in the UK was just 0.7% in March and month on month prices hardly increased at all, up 0.2%, taking the average price to £213,102, according to the latest lender index. Year on year prices fell in London and the South East with England as a whole recording its first annual price fall since 2012, down 0.7%, the data from the Nationwide index shows. However, Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said that indicators of housing market activity, such as the number of property transactions and the number of mortgages approved for house purchase, have remained broadly stable in recent months, even though survey data suggests that sentiment has softened.