The UK housing market is still faltering and could continue to falter this year according to Nationwide Building Society’s housing report for December.
Although yesterday saw the release of better than expected UK manufacturing PMI data, today’s housing report hints at the weak spots still hampering British economic recovery.
Throughout 2012 the UK housing market experienced instability and in the final month of the year this volatility persisted with the average cost of a home dropping to 162,262 – down 0.1 per cent on the month and 1 per cent on the year.
While the report also showed that home prices in the fourth quarter were up 0.5 per cent on the third quarter, values in the last 3 months of 2012 were 1.1 per cent less than during the same period of 2011.
Of the 13 regions within the UK tracked by Nationwide 11 reported annual price declines.
The chief economist with Nationwide commented that: ‘The outlook remains uncertain. With the economic recovery expected to remain fairly weak, the housing market is likely to be characterised by low levels of activity again in 2013, with prices remaining flat or modestly lower.’
Robert Gardner continued: ‘Given that the UK economy was in recession for much of 2012, a 1 per cent decline in house prices may be seen as a relatively resilient performance [However] conditions remain fragile, especially since other signs of housing-market activity, such as the number of mortgage approvals, remained subdued.’
Although economists are forecasting that data due for release tomorrow will show an increase in mortgage approvals the amount they have estimated is far lower than would have been seen before the onset of the global economic crisis.
As of: 10.05 am
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