British house prices increase 0.8% in August

British house prices increased 0.8 percent through August, data issued by Nationwide Building Society showed Friday.
The growth rate was higher than the 0.2 percent rise in July.
British average house prices were 189,306 pounds (314,000 U.S. dollars), recording the 16th monthly increase, said the British mortgage provider in a statement. Compared to a year earlier, house prices were 11 percent higher.
In the three months to August, however, British house prices increased by 2.3 percent over the previous quarter, less than the 2.5 percent growth that was recorded in the three months to July.
Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, commented: "The outlook for the housing market remains highly uncertain. The number of mortgage approvals fell by almost 20 percent between January and May, suggesting that activity was cooling."
"However, the brightening economic outlook is likely to provide ongoing support for housing demand. Consumer sentiment remains buoyant thanks to declining inflation and sustained increases in employment," noted Gardner.
"Moreover, the supply side of the market remains constrained, which will continue to provide underlying support for prices," he added.
Nationwide also expects that the British central bank's first increase in interest rates will take place in the first quarter of 2015.
In June, the British central bank launched new measures to cap household indebtedness caused by an overheating housing market and soaring mortgage lending.
Matthew Pointon, property economist at Capital Economics, said in a note: "Given plenty of signs that housing market demand has been cooling, this bounce back in growth is a bit of a surprise."
With signs that more homes are now coming onto the market, house price growth should ease over the remainder of the year, noted Pointon.