House price growth slowed during April, reports building society

UK house price growth experienced a slowdown in April, according to the Nationwide Building Society.

The pace of growth slowed to 4.9% in April, following growth of 5.7% during March.

House prices rose by just 0.2% during April - representing the lowest monthly increase since November 2015.

The slowdown could be attributed to the fact that, during March, many landlords sought to purchase properties before the rise in stamp duty on 1 April.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) reported that property sales in March reached a record high of 165,400 transactions.

Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said: ‘It may be that the surge in house purchase activity resulting from the increase in stamp duty on second homes from 1 April provided a temporary boost to prices in March.

‘House purchase activity is likely to fall in the months ahead given the number of purchasers that brought forward transactions.

‘The recovery thereafter may also be fairly gradual, especially in the buy-to-let sector, where a wealth of other policy changes, such as the reduction in tax relief for landlords from 2017 are likely to exert an ongoing drag.’