Residential property price in the UK rebounded in June after falling for three months, fresh data from Nationwide has revealed.
House prices rose 1.1% in June alone after falling 0.2% in May, the mortgage lender said.
However, it added that it was unclear at this stage if the increase in home values reflected improved demand, with Nationwide economist Robert Gardner pointing out that “monthly growth rates can be volatile, even after accounting for seasonal effects”.
The average price of a home in the UK rose by £2,590 to £211,301, and yet growth in London continued to slow, rising at the slowest annual pace since 2012, up 1.2% year-on-year.
Gardner commented: “There has been a shift in regional house price trends. Price growth in the south of England has moderated, converging with the rates prevailing in the rest of the country.”
But despite a narrowing in the gap in percentage rises between the strongest performing region, which is East Anglia, and the weakest in the North, the price gap between regions remains extremely wide, the data shows.
Reflecting on Nationwide’s figures, Lucy Pendleton, founding director of James Pendleton estate agents, said: “The housing market has come up for air, which is incredible in a month that saw one of the least conclusive general elections ever.
“If Theresa May’s disastrous election gamble was the first shock result, then the performance put in by the housing market in London has to be the second.
“London had a bad day in the office in June but it always bounces back.”