Nationwide mortgage survey confirms the good news – house prices are up!
Nationwide mortgage survey figures show UK house prices increased in February by 0.6 per cent. This backs up recent Land Registry figures which indicate there are early signs of housing market revival.
The Nationwide mortgage survey reports that the increase in February's figures takes the annual change up to 0.9 per cent, which is a 0.3 per cent increase on January. The average price of a UK house is now £162,712.
Robert Gardner who is the chief economist for the Nationwide, commented saying that evidence for an increase in house prices stems from data which suggests UK economic conditions are perhaps not as weak as feared.
He added that housing market activity has also increased. The number of property transactions in January 2012 were up by 23 per cent from January 2011.
The BOE have also reported an increase in mortgage lending for January this year, they advise lending is now double the level of the previous 6 months.
Russell Quirk of the estate agents emoov.co.uk has said that the Nationwide mortgage survey figures are in line with other positive assessments of housing market activity. He added that no one is getting carried with present state of the economy, however the recent good news is likely to be of comfort to home-owners.
