UK house price growth slowed sharply in July

According to the report from Nationwide Building Society, annual house price growth remained in double digits, but fell back to 10.5% from 13.4% in June. Economists had expected a 12.1% increase. On a monthly basis, house prices fell by 0.5%. Economists had expected a 0.6% increase.

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: “Annual house price growth slowed to 10.5% in July, from the 17-year high of 13.4% recorded the previous month. In month-on-month terms, house prices fell by 0.5%, after taking account of seasonal effects, following a 0.7% rise in June. The modest fallback in July was unsurprising given the significant gains recorded in recent months. Indeed, house prices increased by an average of 1.6% a month over the April to June period – more than six times the average monthly gain recorded in the five years before the pandemic. The tapering of stamp duty relief in England is also likely to have taken some of the heat out of the market. The nil rate band threshold decreased from £500,000 to £250,000 at the end of June (it will revert to £125,000 at the end of September. This provided a strong incentive to complete house purchases before the end of June, especially for higher priced properties. For those purchasing a property above £250,000, the maximum stamp duty saving reduced from £15,000 to £2,500 after the end of June".