House prices make a surprise 3% surge

Average value of a UK property increased from £134,806 in January to £138,730 this month, says Nationwide’s group economist, Alex Bannister, placing yet more pressure on first-time buyers seeking affordable property. This now represents an inflationary rise of 17.1% or an average £20,000 within the last 12 months and the strongest monthly increase since April 2002, at a time when many economists had thought the housing market would begin to slow down. Bannister says the sudden push – compared with a 0.7% rise in January 2004 - is a little surprising, given affordability concerns, but ...