House price growth continues to slow

House price inflation slowed to an 11-month low in November, Nationwide’s latest house price index has revealed.

Annual house price inflation dipped to 8.5% in November, down from 9% in October, as growth slowed for the third consecutive month.

However, prices continued to increase during the month with Nationwide reporting a 0.3% rise as the average price of a property hit £189,388.

Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said the slowdown shows that the market is currently softening.

He said: "The annual pace of house-price growth continues to slow, demonstrating the softening in the housing market.

"Lenders with an eye on their year-end targets and pipeline for next year are determined to drum up business regardless and are targeting those remortgaging in particular with a flurry of rock-bottom deals launched this week by the likes of Barclays and Santander.

"Assuming interest rates don't rise for the foreseeable future, and Mark Carney himself has indicated that we are looking at the fourth quarter of next year at the earliest, low mortgage rates will continue to support the market."

And Harris predicts things could improve further in the second half of 2015.

He said: "Once the uncertainty created by a general election is out of the way, it could be full steam ahead once more for the housing market as all that pent-up demand is released."