United Kingdom: House prices continue to tumble in June
According to the Nationwide Building Society (NBS), house prices in the United Kingdom fell 1.4% month-on-month in June, coming after May’s 1.7% decline. The fall was driven by Covid-19 and associated containment measures hurting housing demand. On an annual basis, house prices were down 0.1%, the first annual drop since 2012 and contrasting May’s 1.8% increase. The average house price in June was GBP 216,403 (June 2019: GBP 216,515).
Looking ahead, house prices will likely remain soft in the near term due to depressed consumer sentiment and a weaker labor market. That said, Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, commented:
“The raft of policies adopted to support the economy […] should […] help ensure the impact on the housing market will ultimately be less than would normally be associated with an economic shock of this magnitude.”