31 October 2002, 11:47  UK house market tentatively cooling

The UK housing market is showing tentative signs of slowing down, according to the latest monthly survey from the Nationwide building society. Even though house prices rose by another 1.4pc in October from September, leaving them 24pc higher than the same month a year ago, the Nationwide noted that the monthly increase was the lowest since March. The Nationwide also noted that prices in the south east were rising less quickly than in many other regions. It blamed affordability issues for first time buyers as well as high profile job losses in the financial sector.
The building society added that it expected the rate of price increase to moderate further over the course of the next 12 months. Affordability, it said, was acting as a brake on price increases and this situation is unlikely to change in the short term. Commenting on the survey, Alex Bannister, Nationwide's group economist, added that house prices were almost back to the level they would have been at if they had grown in line with average earnings since the peak of the last boom.
The building society reported the average UK house price is now UK?113,665 against UK?112,919 in September. //www.fxcentre.com

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