The UK’s housing market, like the weather, remained unseasonably warm in September, with August’s rate rise failing to cool the pace of house price inflation according to the latest figures from Nationwide released on Thursday.

The building society said house prices rose by 1.3 per cent in September lifting the annual rate to 8.2 per cent - the fastest annual rate of growth since February 2005 - taking the price of an average house to £169,413.

Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s group economist, said a weak patch this time last year, when prices fell by 0.2 per cent, had exaggerated the annual rise although there was “clearly a pick-up in house price growth” since July. Nationwide noted a strong interest in buy-to-let properties, fanned by demand for rented accommodation from migrant workers, which had helped to support the market.

Source:  Financial Times