Industry reacts to latest Nationwide House Price Index

For those of you covering the latest Nationwide House Price Index, please find industry reaction below.

The latest index shows that house prices climbed 0.7% in October, up 9.9% on an annual basis.

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Managing Director of Sirius Property Finance, Nicholas Christofi, commented:

“As is often the case in the mortgage space, what comes down must eventually go up again and we may well start to see mortgage rates creep up over the remainder of the year.

This may be a scary thought for a generation of homeowners and buyers who have only even experienced record low rates and mortgage affordability for over a decade now and we could see the current rate of house price growth slow as many take a more conservative approach to borrowing.

But this is no cause for panic, mortgage rates ebb and flow and while there may be an increase, this is not a return to the 1990s. Mortgage rates will remain near to historic lows and regulations have dictated for some time that new borrowers are ‘stretch tested’ before being granted a loan to avoid any financial turmoil.”

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:

“The first look at a post stamp duty holiday market suggests that the tapered deadline has helped to negate any market collapse. That and the continued high demand for housing, of course.

Any signs of a winter freeze look unlikely and with homebuyers continuing to enter the market at mass, market activity will remain high right through until next year.

We’re now starting to see the London market build a serious head of steam and as the capital starts to find its previous form, this will only impact topline market performance positively.”

Managing Director of Barrows and Forrester, James Forrester, commented:

“Any market uncertainty that may currently remain is merely a drop in the ocean compared to the last 18 months and so the chances of a house price decline this side of Christmas are slim, to say the least.

We’re still seeing an incredibly high level of market activity despite the end of the stamp duty holiday and while there are murmurs of an increase in interest rates, this is unlikely to deter the average homebuyer who will continue to benefit from a very favourable cost of borrowing.”