Nationwide’s House Price Review and outlook for 2025 highlighted that the housing market showed remarkable resilience in 2024, despite continued affordability challenges.
Given this strength, Nationwide forecasted house price growth to generally range between 2% and 4% in 2025.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, reflected on the unexpected resilience of the housing market in 2024, despite considerable affordability challenges faced by buyers.
Gardner pointed out that at the beginning of the year, house prices remained “high relative to average earnings,” making it challenging for first-time buyers to save for deposits. This difficulty was further compounded by “record rates of rental growth in recent years,” which posed additional obstacles.
He also emphasised the burden of rising borrowing costs, noting that “a typical mortgage rate for someone with a 25% deposit hovered around 4.5% for much of the year,” a significant jump from the 1.5% seen in late 2021. These higher rates made monthly mortgage payments challenging, even for those who had successfully saved for a deposit.
Despite these challenges, Gardner found reasons for optimism in the market’s recovery. He observed: “The number of mortgages approved for house purchase each month rose above pre-pandemic levels towards the end of the year.
“Similarly, after starting the year registering small annual declines, the pace of house price growth moved firmly into positive territory, approaching 4% in November.”
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For further information, feel free to contact Jonathan Birkett, our Equity Release and Mortgage Adviser. Whether you’re a first-time buyer or seeking competitive re-mortgage rates, Jonathan is ready to assist you. You can reach him via email at jonathan.birkett@pkgroup.co.uk or by phone at +44 (0)20 8334 9953
PK FINANCIAL PLANNING LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’), 12 Endeavour Square, London E20 1JN. Your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage secured on it.
