Mortgage lender Nationwide said on Friday that the annual growth of British house prices slowed “sharply” again in December. Prices also had their worst monthly run since 2008 in the last month of 2022.
Nationwide said that annual house price growth slowed to 2.8% in December from 4.4% in November, which was less than what a Reuters poll predicted (2.3% growth).
The lender said that prices went down 0.1% in December compared to November. This was the fourth month in a row that prices went down, and it was the worst price drop streak since the financial crisis. A poll of economists by Reuters had predicted a 0.7% drop.
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“Even though things have calmed down on the financial markets, mortgage rates are taking longer to get back to normal, and there aren’t many signs that the housing market is getting better,” Nationwide’s chief economist, Robert Gardner, said in a statement.
“Economic headwinds are getting stronger, so it will be hard for the market to gain much momentum in the near future.” “Real earnings are expected to fall even more, and the labour market is expected to weaken as the economy shrinks.”