House shortage props up prices

A MAJOR shortage of homes on the market is helping to prop up prices, according to Britain’s biggest building society.

Despite indications that the market is cooling, Nationwide saw a 2.9 per cent rise in house prices in the year to June.

Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said ‘on the surface, this appears at odds with recent signs of cooling in the housing market’.

He added that ‘a lack of homes on the market appears to be providing support’ for price growth.

The number of housing transactions fell to the lowest level in eight months in June, with the number of mortgages approved for house purchase also falling to a nine-month low of 64,684.