Annual house price growth eased slightly in November, rising 1.8 percent year-over-year compared with 2.4 percent in October, although monthly growth slightly increased from a revised o.2 percent the previous month to 0.3 percent. The average price reached £272,998, signalling a market that is not booming but remains quietly resilient.

This stability is attributed to steady mortgage approvals and a housing sector that has adjusted to higher borrowing costs, even as consumer confidence and labour market conditions soften. Despite mortgage rates being more than twice their pre-pandemic levels, prices remain close to historic highs, reflecting ongoing structural demand.

Policy changes announced in the Budget appear unlikely to shift market dynamics significantly, as the planned high-value council tax surcharge affects only a small share of homes. However, higher taxes on rental income may further restrict rental supply, potentially sustaining record-high rental growth.

Looking ahead, modest improvements in affordability could emerge if wages continue to grow faster than house prices and if interest rates ease in the coming months. With household debt at its lowest relative to income in twenty years, financial buffers may help support buyer activity despite the subdued economic backdrop.

The Nationwide House Price Index (HPI) provides house price information derived from Nationwide lending data for properties at the post survey approval stage. Nationwide house prices are mix adjusted; that is, they track a representative house price over time rather than the simple average price.

Home values affect much in the economy especially the housing and consumer sectors. Periods of rising home values encourage new construction while periods of soft home prices can damp housing starts. Changes in home values play key roles in consumer spending and in consumer financial health. During the first half of this decade sharply rising home prices boosted how much home equity households held. In turn, this increased consumers' ability to spend, based on wealth effects and from being able to draw upon expanding home equity lines of credit.

Although the Nationwide data are calculated similar to the Halifax method Nationwide substantially updated their system in 1993 following the publication of the 1991 census data. These improvements mean that Nationwide's system is more robust to lower sample sizes because it better identifies and tracks representative house prices. Historically, the data go back to 1952 on a quarterly basis and 1991 on a monthly basis.

Over long periods the Halifax and Nationwide series of house prices tend to follow similar patterns. This stems from both Nationwide and Halifax using similar statistical techniques to produce their prices. Nationwide's average price differs because the representative property tracked is different in make up to that of Halifax.