By: David Milliken
LONDON: Annual house price inflation fell to its weakest level since November 2015 last month, and the outlook remains clouded due to uncertain economic prospects, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Wednesday.
Nationwide said house prices rose 0.2 % in January, slowing from a 0.8 % jump in December, to leave prices 4.3 % higher than a year earlier, down from an annual increase of 4.5 percent the month before.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected house prices to be flat in January, but for growth to slow fractionally less on an annual basis to 4.4 %.
“The outlook for the housing market remains clouded, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding economic prospects more broadly,” Nationwide economist Robert Gardner said, pointing to pressure on households from rising consumer price inflation. (Editing by Toby Chopra)
Source: Reuters