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Nationwide marks house price slowdown

Housing inflation has fallen to its lowest level for 12 years, Nationwide said today.

The mortgage loans lender has released its house price survey for March, showing an overall fall of 0.6 per cent for the month.

This drags annual inflation down to 1.1 per cent - a sluggishness of growth which has not been matched since March 1996 and is bad news for homeowners looking to remortgage their properties.

Chief economist at the firm Fionnuala Earley said: "A clear change in sentiment since the late summer has led to the sharp slowing in house price growth, even in the less volatile three-month on three-month series - prices on this measure are now 1.5 per cent lower than three months ago."

However, Nationwide was also quick to point out the underlying strength of the market.

"Prices are still 11 per cent higher than two years ago and 47 per cent higher than five years ago - the equivalent of a price rise of more than £30 per day for the last five years," Ms Earley added.

According to the firm, the average UK house price now stands at £179,110.

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