LONDON (Reuters) – British house prices rose last month at a faster rate than expected as robust demand and a lack of new homes coming to the market kept up momentum, a survey showed on Wednesday.
Mortgage lender Nationwide said house prices rose by 0.7% in monthly terms in October after a 0.2% rise in September. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to another 0.2% increase.
The increase left house prices 9.9% higher than a year previously, although this marked the weakest annual growth rate since April.
“The outlook remains extremely uncertain,” said Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner.
“If the labour market remains resilient, conditions may stay fairly buoyant in the coming months – especially as the market continues to have momentum and there is scope for ongoing shifts in housing preferences.”
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; editing by Sarah Young)