(Bloomberg) -- U.K. house-price growth eased in September amid what Nationwide Building Society said has been weaker demand for property in recent months.
Values increased 5.3 percent in September compared with a year earlier, down from the 5.6 percent pace in August, Nationwide Building Society said on Friday. On the month, they increased 0.3 percent, to lift the average price to 206,015 pounds ($267,057).
The Bank of England said on Thursday that mortgage approvals fell to the lowest in almost two years in August. While consumer confidence is on the mend after an initial drop after the vote to leave the European Union, the picture for housing has been more mixed, with prices being supported by a supply-demand imbalance.
“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, chief economist at Nationwide. “While new buyer inquiries have remained fairly subdued, the number of homes on the market has remained close to all-time lows.”
--With assistance from Mark Evans To contact the reporter on this story: Fergal O'Brien in London at fobrien@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss, Catherine Bosley
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