House price growth halves as ‘reluctant’ buyers and sellers hold back
UK annual house price growth halved to 0.8% in September, down from 1.6% in August.
Nationwide’s latest House Price Index reported “the weakest rate of growth since December 2025”, said Robert Gardener, chief economist at Nationwide.
The average house price in September was £274,251, down from £275,465.
East Anglia was the weakest performing region in the UK, with prices down 0.7% year-on-year.
Gardner added that annual house price growth in England slowed to 0.5% in Q3. He said Northern England continued to outperform, with prices rising 1.6% year-on-year, led by the North West, where growth remained unchanged at 3.9%.
He noted that average prices in Southern England fell 0.1% annually. London was the only Southern region to record growth, with prices up 0.4%, while the Outer Metropolitan region saw a 0.2% decline.
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‘Cannot be dismissed’
Jonathan Hopper, CEO of Garrington Property Finders, said the data cannot be dismissed as a one-off.
He added: “A stagnant summer has been followed by a September slide in prices. Such a sharp slowdown in the annual pace of growth cannot be dismissed as one bad month.
“Large parts of the UK’s property market are stuck in a rut, with the number of homes for sale exceeding the number of serious buyers.”
Tomer Aboody, founding director of specialist lender MT Finance, said: “With the prospect of more taxation on the way in the Budget, understandably buyers and sellers are reluctant to make a move unless it is essential.”
However, some are optimistic about the resilience of the market.
Jeremy Leaf, estate agent and a former Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) residential chair, said: “The good news is that demand has slowly improved over the past 3-4 weeks, so looking forward, we expect more activity – although already protracted transactions are unlikely to shorten any time soon.”
Jason Tebb, president of OnTheMarket, commented: “Market resilience is still in evidence, despite higher mortgage costs sounding a note of caution. The Bank of England’s decision to hold interest rates so far this year has helped in terms of affordability”.
Daryl Norkett, director of real estate proposition at Shawbrook, said the government’s recent announcement of a new first-time buyer scheme could be what the market needs.
“The newly announced ‘Your First Home’ scheme could inject much-needed demand-side support into the housing market, bringing with it the potential for transaction activity to pick back up,” he added.
