UK annual house price growth cools after surprise decline in December
Growth in UK house price growth slowed more than expected year-on-year in December, according to a report published on Friday.
The Nationwide house price index showed UK house price growth cooled to 0.6% year-on-year in December from 1.8% in November.
It is the slowest pace of annual growth since April 2024 and below FXStreet consensus which forecast an increase of 1.2%.
The building society said house prices fell 0.4% in December on-month, reversing a 0.3% gain in November and compared to market consensus which predicted a 0.1% rise.
This left the average UK house price at £271,068 in December, down from £272,998 in November.
For 2025 as a whole, East Anglia was the weakest performing region, with prices down 0.8% over the year.
Northern Ireland was the best performing area for the third year running, with prices up 9.7%.
Annual price growth in London remained subdued, with prices rising by 0.7% in 2025, compared with a 2.0% rise in 2024.
Looking ahead to 2026, Nationwide’s Chief Economist Robert Gardner expects housing market activity to strengthen a little further as affordability improves gradually
‘We expect annual house price growth to be broadly in the 2% to 4% range’ in 2026, he said.
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