U.K. House Prices Post Biggest Jump Since 2004, Nationwide Says

(Bloomberg) --

U.K. house prices jumped at the fastest annual pace since 2004 in March, as the nation's property market continued to defy the wider cost of living crisis.

Prices jumped 14.3% from a year earlier, taking the average value to a record 265,312 pounds ($348,400), Nationwide Building Society reported Thursday. In March alone, prices rose 1.1%. Both figures were above economists' forecasts.

U.K. home prices have risen for eight consecutive months, and now stand 21% higher than they were before the pandemic struck. While some forecasters expected gains to slow in 2022 as higher inflation and interest rates squeeze budgets, the surge is currently showing no signs of letting up.

“The housing market has retained a surprising amount of momentum given the mounting pressure on household budgets and the steady rise in borrowing costs,” said Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist.

What Bloomberg Economics Says ...
“A boom in Britain's housing market continues to defy the economic headwinds amid continued demand and limited stock. But we expect a tight squeeze on incomes and higher interest rates to finally cool prices in the coming months.”
--Niraj Shah, Bloomberg Economics. Click for the REACT.

Successive pandemic lockdowns allowed homebuyers to save deposits, while the tight labor market also contributed to the market's buoyancy, Nationwide said. Economists at the building society estimated that households accrued 190 billion pounds in extra deposits more than pre-Covid levels, though this was concentrated among older, wealthier households.

With the “race for space” continuing, whereby owners of flats seek to move to bigger houses, a gap has opened between the price of each, making it harder for people to transition. That price gap is now at a record high.

Still, if the Bank of England adds to its three-straight rate rises, and this feeds through to mortgage rates, this could drag on the market as a whole, Nationwide said.