20 things

Nationwide Building Society’s Quarterly House Price Report

14 July 2007

• The Nationwide Quarterly House Price Report revealed that each UK region experienced house price growth during Q2 2007.
• However, the report suggested that growth was slowing, as Base Rate rises began to impact the market.
• Prices in Q2 2007 reached an average of £181,810, Nationwide indicated.
• This was up from the £175,554 average house price recorded in Q1 2007.
• Annually house prices grew by an average of 10.2 per cent.
• London retained its title as the region with the highest average house price, at £292,409.
• Quarterly, this increased by 3.1 per cent.
• The North recorded the lowest house prices, at an average of £134,523 – representing an annual change of 6.3 per cent, and a quarterly change of 2.3 per cent.
• Wales recorded average house price figures of £154,969, the report indicated, with quarterly change increasing by 2.6 per cent.
• Annually house prices in Wales increased by 7.4 per cent, Nationwide suggested, while properties in Scotland increased, annually, by an average of 14.7 per cent.
• Properties in Scotland reached an average house price of £148,593, with quarterly change registering at plus 2.9 per cent.
• Properties in Northern Ireland (NI) recorded the largest annual change, increasing by 54 per cent.
• Average house prices in Northern Ireland reached £225,447, increasing by a quarterly average of 7.8 per cent.
• Within London, Westminster was the most expensive borough, while Barking and Dagenham was the least expensive, according to the report.
• Islington recorded the strongest quarterly price growth, while Bexley recorded the weakest, Nationwide suggested.
• Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist, said: “Prices increased by at least 5 per cent in every region of the UK over the past 12 months, with five out of 13 regions recording double-digit growth. Each region also saw prices rise from the previous quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis. As per Q1 2007, NI and London led the market during April and June, with annual price growth reaching 54 per cent and 15.7 per cent respectively. In contrast, the North West and West Midlands saw the weakest annual change in house prices.”
• She added: “At a national level, the annual rate of house price growth increased slightly from Q1, rising from 9.5 per cent to 10.2 per cent. This masked a slowing of the quarterly pace of growth for the second quarter in a row, from 2.3 per cent to 2.1 per cent. In fact, the acceleration of annual house price inflation was in part driven by an interim period of relative weakness in Q2 2006.”
• Indices and average prices for the UK and the regions are produced using Nationwide’s updated mix-adjusted House Price Methodology which was introduced in Q1 1995. All changes are nominal and do not allow for inflation.
• Prices differ to main Nationwide index because sub-regional analysis is based on the average price per square foot in each of the sub-regions. This is grossed up by the average square footage in a particular region to arrive at an average house price.
• Unlike Nationwide’s main index, this methodology doesn’t take into account the different mix of properties transacted and is a simplification. Therefore the two are not directly comparable.