1 August 2025
If you are covering the latest Nationwide House Price Index, please find comments below from Karen Noye, mortgage expert at Quilter:
“The latest data from Nationwide shows that despite the usual summer lull, the housing market remains resilient as house prices rose 0.6% in July, bringing annual growth to 2.4%. Following a 0.9% decline in June, this is a strong bounce back as the market continues to adjust to the stamp duty reforms earlier in the year.
“Activity remains strong, with yesterday’s monthly property transaction data highlighting a 13% month-on-month growth in sales, with the 93,530 transactions being 1% higher than the same point last year. While the backdrop remains uncertain, it is at least supportive for homebuyers.
“All eyes will be on the Bank of England next week and what it decides to do with interest rates. It was thought that a rate cut was fairly certain on Thursday, but recent inflation data coming in higher than expected may just temper things slightly and force buyers to wait. Should the Bank of England follow through with a rate cut, however, that will help support the buyers.
“We have also witnessed the launch of the mortgage guarantee scheme earlier this month. While it remains early days to assess the impact of this scheme, it should help first time buyers with affordability at a time when upfront costs such as stamp duty have risen. The government is on something of a deregulation agenda currently, so the housing market and schemes such as this will be watched closely to see what impact is being had.
“While the economic picture in the UK isn’t the healthiest, it is at least stable, and this will ultimately keep house buying demand up. If the Bank of England can bring about another two interest rate cuts this year and bring the base rate below 4%, that will send a huge confidence boost through the housing market.”
