"The predominant theme remains one of stability"
- Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide
The U.K. house prices remained unchanged this month, while are likely to fell slightly during the next year, the Nationwide Building Society said on Thursday. The average cost of a home in the U.K. was 163,853 pounds ($262,300) in November, 1.2% lower from the previous year. On monthly basis, index of British house prices remained unchanged at 0.0%, from 0.6% in the previous month. In the meantime, the number of mortgage approvals rose by 2567 to 52,982 last month, up from 50,415 in September. Gain in prices was limited mostly, by low growth of wages, while rock-bottom interest rates helped to prevent forced sales.
"The predominant theme remains one of stability," Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said in the statement. However, "house prices are likely to remain broadly flat or decline modestly over the next 12 months."
"The resilience of employment together with the ultra-low level of interest rates has been instrumental in preventing a glut of unsold homes from building up on the market and exerting sustained downward pressure on house prices," he added.
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