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House price growth slows, says Nationwide, but 'remains in range' Housebuilders need to build faster, says Nationwide
(about 1 hour later)
September saw a slowing in house price growth, says the Nationwide, "though it remained within the range of 3% to 6% that has prevailed since early 2015". Housebuilders should get on and build more houses, the Nationwide Building Society has declared.
The building society said prices climbed 0.3% compared to August, making the average cost of a home £206,015. It said the number of homes on the market was close to record lows, partly because of low rates of construction.
Prices in September were 5.3% higher than a year earlier, compared with 5.6% in August. Nevertheless, its latest figures show that annual house price inflation has fallen, from 5.6% in August to 5.3% in September.
"The number of homes on the market has remained close to all-time lows," said the Nationwide. Between August and September, prices rose by just 0.3%, half the 0.6% rise in the previous month.
"The relative stability in the rate of house price growth suggests that the softening in housing demand evident in recent months has been broadly matched on the supply side of the market," said Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist. The average price of a house or flat in the UK is now £206,015, it said.
Even though demand for homes has fallen, the number of new properties coming on to the market has also gone down.
London shortage
The Nationwide's chief economist, Robert Gardner, said housebuilders should have more confidence that people will want to buy any homes they build.
And he said they have plenty of sites where they could begin construction.
"The major housebuilders appear to have capacity to expand output, with most reporting land banks that could support around five years' worth of construction at current rates of building activity."
Government figures show that in the last year, 139,000 new houses were completed in England. This compares to the need for 225,000 new homes a year, said Mr Gardner.
"The number of new homes built in England has picked up, but is still not sufficient to keep up with the expected increase in the population," he said.
The industry responded by saying that there had already been a huge increase in supply, and it was planning to deliver even more.
"We are making huge progress; we're getting there, but we're not there yet," said a spokesperson for the Home Builders Federation.
But Mr Gardner said that in particular, not enough homes are being built in London and its suburbs. Over the last year, the housing stock in the capital has risen by 2.9%, whereas a rise of 4.3% could have been expected, he added.
Where can I afford to live?