According to data released by the Nationwide Building Society on Thursday, UK house prices saw a more pronounced increase in December. The annual growth rate for December was 4.7%, surpassing the 3.7% rise observed in November and exceeding the economists' expectations of a 3.8% gain.
On a month-to-month comparison, house price growth slowed to 0.7% from November's 1.2%, despite predictions of just a 0.1% rise.
Nationwide's Chief Economist, Robert Gardner, highlighted the positive trend in housing market activity, noting an increase in mortgage approvals for home purchases each month, surpassing pre-pandemic levels towards the end of the year.
Gardner also projected a gradual strengthening of the housing market's underlying activity as affordability constraints are expected to ease. This would result from a combination of slightly reduced interest rates and wages growing faster than house prices.
