The average price of a home in the UK rose 1.3 percent in July, according to the latest information from building society Nationwide. Prices for the month were an average of £158,871 and that follows a 1 percent rise in June.
In addition to the rise in prices, there was a significant increase in mortgage loans being approved in June, according to the Bank of England. The figures for June approvals comes in at 47,584 loans approved. That is 7 percent higher than May’s total of 44,169 and is the highest number since April of 2008, which had 58,000 approvals. Net lending rose as well, to £343 million, up from May’s revised number of £331 million.
When releasing its latest numbers, Nationwide indicated that it may be possible that housing prices end up higher at the end of the year than at the beginning. Such a scenario was not foreseeable even a few months ago.
Nationwide’s chief economist, Martin Gahbauer, said the potential for a rise in prices is a bit surprising, given how the year started. “There is now a reasonable chance that prices could end the year slightly higher than where they started. Only a few months ago, such an outcome would have appeared unthinkable.”
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