Slow growth in house prices say the experts but commercial property sees its biggest increase since December 2015.
Nationwide House Price Index
Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: “The annual rate of house price growth slowed in March to 3.5%, from 4.5% in February. House prices fell by 0.3% in the month, after taking account of seasonal effects.
“The latest English Housing Survey from DCLG revealed a further decline in the home ownership rate to 62.9% in 2016 - the lowest recorded since 1985
“While the last couple of years have seen a slight improvement in the proportion of young adults owning their own home (currently 38%), this remains considerably lower than was the case ten years ago. The data also reveals a significant fall in home ownership rates amongst those aged 35-44 to just 56% (down from 74% in 2006).
Halifax House Prince Index
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: “House prices in the three months to March were 0.1% higher than in the previous quarter; the lowest quarterly rate of change since October 2016. The annual rate of growth fell further; to 3.8% from February’s 5.1%, the lowest rate since May 2013.
“The annual rate of house price growth has more than halved over the past 12 months. A lengthy period of rapid house price growth has made it increasingly difficult for many to purchase a home as income growth has failed to keep up, which appears to have curbed housing demand.
“Nonetheless, the supply of both new homes and existing properties available for sale remains low. This, together with historically very low mortgage rates, is likely to support house price levels over the coming months.”
CBRE UK Monthly Index
Capital values across all UK commercial property rose by 0.7% in March 2017, the biggest increase since December 2015. Rental values also experienced their largest increase since December 2015, climbing by 0.3% over the month. In Q1 2017 capital values increased 1.3% on average, while rental values rose 0.5%. Industrial property played the dominant role in pulling up these averages.
The Industrial sector again recorded strong performance on key measures in March. At the national level, capital values increased by 2.0% over the month, the highest monthly growth since December 2009 and significantly above all other main sectors. These results were driven largely by Industrials in the South East where capital values and rental values rose by 2.5% and 1.3% respectively.
