There was better news on the UK housing market today as house price growth picked up in April, according to the figures from building society Nationwide.
Average house prices rose by 0.5% last month, data from the lender showed, following seven consecutive falls going back to last September.
The average price increased to £260,441, up from £257,122 in March.
This has lifted the annual rate of house price growth to -2.7%, from -3.1% in March, as calm returned to the markets after the chaos of last autumn’s mini-budget.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: “While annual house price growth remained negative in April at -2.7%, there were tentative signs of a recovery with prices rising by 0.5% during the month (after taking account of seasonal effects). April’s monthly increase follows seven consecutive declines and leaves prices 4% below their August 2022 peak.”
Nicky Stevenson, managing director at national estate agent group Fine & Country said: “April’s small rise in house prices is a hugely positive sign, coming after Nationwide reported several months of falling prices even as other indices suggested the opposite was happening.
“The property market is proving much more resilient than people anticipated, even though household finances remain tight and inflation is still stubbornly high.”
The EY ITEM Club suggested that “combined with recent increases in the Halifax price measure and evidence of a pick-up in transactions from very low levels, the latest Nationwide numbers offer another sign that weakness in the housing market may have troughed".
“This would be consistent with signs of a turnaround in the economy, still-solid job creation and improving consumer confidence.”
But it cautioned that “the risk of a sustained correction in values hasn’t gone away”.
“Average house prices still look very stretched on most affordability measures,” it added.
The news boosted shares in housebuilders, with Persimmon PLC soaring 4.9%, Barratt Developments PLC advancing 2.1% while Taylor Wimpey PLC (LSE:TW.) rose 1.7%.