House price growth set to slow down

House prices continued to grow steadily throughout 2016 despite the market volatility, averaging 4.5% nationally over the last 12 months.

However, this period of steady increase is set to slow, according to the Nationwide Building Society, who expect the average growth in 2017 to be at a more modest level of 2%. It is reported that these reductions in growth are already evident across London and, for the first time since 2008, average house price increase in London was lower than the UK average at 3.7%.

Prospects for house prices in 2017 are largely unknown and will depend on what happens across the economy, which is currently full of uncertainty. However, the Bank of England believes that a small increase is more likely than a decline, with the housing shortage supporting house prices across the country. On this occasion I think it’s a case of waiting to see what 2017 will bring and how this will affect property specifically.