–Nationwide: UK Mar House Prices Up 0.7% m/m; Up 9.0% y/y
–Nationwide: Jan-Mar House Prices Up 1.6% 3m/3m Vs 1.8% in Dec-Feb

LONDON (MNI) – UK house prices rebounded in March, rising 0.7% on
the month having fallen an upwardly revised 0.8% in February, the
Nationwide survey showed.

House prices were up 9.0% on the year and up 1.6% in the first
quarter of 2010 on the final quarter of 2009, below the rise of 1.8%
seen in the three months through February on the previous three months.
The data suggest that while the UK house price rally may be cooling, it
has not gone into reverse.

The previous sharp fall monthly fall in February, of 1.0%, was
revised up to show a smaller fall of 0.8%.

A raft of recent data have suggested the rally in the UK housing
market is cooling. Bank of England data issued Monday showed mortgage
approvals, a good indicator of future housing market activity, fell on
the month in February to their lowest level since May 2009, with the
47,094 total of approvals just over half the series’ long run average of
91,715.

“The last two months are consistent with a relatively flat profile
for house prices, and in line with the recent drops seen in buyer
enquiries and house sales,” Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s Chief
Economist, said.

Gahbauer said the weak approvals data suggest the “weakness in
house sales at the start of the year may have been due to more than just
the snowy weather.”

He said that with the number of homes coming on to the market not
increasingly appreciably, the impact on house prices of the subdued
demand has not been too negative.

“If this trend continues, we are likely to see relatively few
properties changing hands, but with prices fairly stable,” Gahbauer
said.

In the March budget the Treasury announced it was doubling the
threshold on stamp duty, a property transaction tax, for first time
buyers.

Gahbauer expressed skepticism this would result in a sharp
acceleration in housing market activity, noting that the previous “stamp
duty holiday” resulted in a modest increase in house purchase
transactions.

–London newsroom: 4420 7634 1624; email: drobinson@marketnews.com

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