UK House Price Growth Accelerates
(RTTNews) - UK house price growth accelerated in August despite economic uncertainties, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed Tuesday.
House prices grew 1.6 percent on a yearly basis, faster than the 1.4 percent rise in July but weaker than economists' forecast of 2.0 percent.
Month-on-month, house prices gained 0.2 percent, in contrast to the 0.1 percent fall in July. Prices were expected to climb 0.1 percent.
Nationwide's Chief Economist Robert Gardner said the subdued housing market activity and property prices partly reflect the uncertain economic backdrop.
He noted that geopolitical tensions remain high, with the conflict in the Middle East exerting upward pressure on energy prices and market interest rates.
Further, Gardner said market expectations of the future path of Bank Rate have been volatile. Although energy price shock poses inflation risks, there have been encouraging signs that it is not feeding through to underlying price pressures.
Nationwide expects housing market activity to regain momentum in the quarters ahead provided the energy shock wanes and confidence returns, especially if market interest rates fall back towards pre-conflict levels.
The Bank of England is set to announce its next policy decision on September 17. Previously, the bank had reduced the bank rate by 25 basis points each in April and November last year.
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