- Robert Gardner, Nationwide economist
Britain's house prices continue to ease in December amid signs of the housing market cooling from the previous record levels, according to Nationwide Building Society. Across the UK, property prices rose 7.2% on annual basis in December to 188,559 pounds on average, edging slightly lower than a historic high of 189,388 pounds recorded in November. This was the fourth straight month of slower annual house price inflation. When measured on a monthly basis, average asking prices of properties decelerated to an increase by 0.2%, compared with 0.3% measured in the previous month and in line with estimates. Nationwide expects the housing market to regain momentum next year, if the UK economy continues to grow as expected. London was named as the UK's "top performer" for price growth in 2014, with prices soaring 17.8% reaching 406,730 pounds.
Rightmove reported similar price movement for December, when average price of property in the country dropped by a record 3.3%, which slowed the annual price growth to a rise of 7%, down from 8.5% in the previous month. Despite the monthly record drop, Rightmove projected that house prices would continue to increase in 2015 by an average of 4% to 5%, driven by a shortage of new property in the market, and increased buyer sentiment amid a continuing low interest rate environment.
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