The UK’s red-hot housing market is showing new signs of cooling down. While the sector posted a 12.1-percent y-o-y increase (its biggest jump in more than seven years) in September, prices slipped from their August high, which has analysts worried about a slowdown. The average house price fell from a record high of GBP 274,000 in August to GBP 273,000 in September, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
“This month has seen house prices in a number of regions fall back from the record levels witnessed in August 2014. Only house prices in the East of England remain at record levels,” the ONS said in its report.
The fastest growth was posted in London, where prices jumped by 18.8 percent in September, down from 19.6 percent the previous month, according to the ONS data. Figures from Nationwide also point to a slowdown, with annual price growth falling to 9 percent in October, down from 9.4 percent in September. The mortgage volume also fell to a 14-month low in September, according to the Bank of England.
