UK house prices on the increase in February

The cost of purchasing a house in the UK property market saw an increase in February, the latest report released by Nationwide has shown.

Data reports that the price of buying on average rose to keep up the strong level of performance that has been seen so far in the early weeks of the new year.

Through February, the mean cost of a house hit levels of £162,638. While this was static compared to the same month one year ago, it was a full 0.2 per cent higher than in January.
This shows that the market is continuing to build on early 2013 momentum, which had seen reports of both the demand for buying and the asking prices from sellers heading in an upwards direction.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "While activity in the housing market remains subdued by historic standards, there have been tentative signs of a pick up in recent months. The Funding for Lending Scheme has achieved some success in bringing down mortgage rates, with encouraging signs of an improvement in credit availability."

Mr Gardner said that with an eye on the future, there are definitely reasons to be positive with regards the property market. With the rate of employment rising at its fastest rate since the mid 1990s, people's buying power could be about to hit levels unseen in recent years.

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