UK house prices fall in June - Nationwide

(Sharecast News) - UK house prices unexpectedly fell last month, according to figures released on Tuesday by Nationwide. House prices declined by 0.8% on the month in June, following 0.4% growth in May. Analysts were expecting a 0.2% jump.

On the year, house price growth slowed to 2.1% last month from 3.5% in May.

The average price of a home stood at £271,619 in June, versus £273,427 a month earlier.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said: "The softening in price growth may reflect weaker demand following the increase in stamp duty at the start of April. Nevertheless, we still expect activity to pick up as the summer progresses, despite ongoing economic uncertainties in the global economy, since underlying conditions for potential homebuyers in the UK remain supportive.

"The unemployment rate remains low, earnings are rising at a healthy pace in real terms (i.e. after accounting for inflation), household balance sheets are strong and borrowing costs are likely to moderate a little if Bank Rate is lowered further in the coming quarters as we and most other analysts expect."

The data also showed that the north-south divide in house price performance narrowed in the three months to June. Average prices in Northern England were up 3.1% year-on-year, while prices in Southern England were 2.2% higher.

Northern Ireland remained the top-performing area, with annual house price growth of 9.7%.