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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| House price growth 'strengthens' | House price growth 'strengthens' |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| House price growth picked up again in April, the latest figures from Nationwide building society show. | House price growth picked up again in April, the latest figures from Nationwide building society show. |
| Prices rose 0.9%, taking the annual rate of price inflation to 10.2% and pushing the average price of a home in the UK to £180,314. | |
| However the Nationwide claimed that over the longer term, house price growth is beginning to cool. | |
| Prices increased by 2% between February and April - the lowest three-monthly growth rate since last August. | Prices increased by 2% between February and April - the lowest three-monthly growth rate since last August. |
| Too sharp a rate hike [in May] could undermine market confidence and dry demand up swiftly Nationwide's Fionnuala Earley | Too sharp a rate hike [in May] could undermine market confidence and dry demand up swiftly Nationwide's Fionnuala Earley |
| "While the monthly rise in prices is stronger than the [Bank of England] would have liked to see, it can take some comfort from the fact that the underlying trend is softening," said Nationwide chief economist Fionnuala Earley. | "While the monthly rise in prices is stronger than the [Bank of England] would have liked to see, it can take some comfort from the fact that the underlying trend is softening," said Nationwide chief economist Fionnuala Earley. |
| The building society's figures confirm those of other surveys, such as those from the Halifax and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which have shown prices rising briskly this spring. | |
| Rates warning | Rates warning |
| This latest increase in house prices is likely to increase the pressure on the Bank to raise interest rates, which are widely expected to go up by one quarter of a percentage point to 5.5% in May. | |
| Yet Nationwide cautioned against the Bank pushing rates up to 6% and beyond, as it fears this could destabilise the property market. | |
| "Too sharp a rate hike could undermine market confidence and dry demand up swiftly," Ms Earley warned. | "Too sharp a rate hike could undermine market confidence and dry demand up swiftly," Ms Earley warned. |
| She explained that previous price increases had been supported by resilient demand, but signs are emerging that this is beginning to wane. | She explained that previous price increases had been supported by resilient demand, but signs are emerging that this is beginning to wane. |
| First time buyer numbers fell by 3,200 between December and February, compared with the same period last year, Nationwide said. | First time buyer numbers fell by 3,200 between December and February, compared with the same period last year, Nationwide said. |
| It also argues that warnings of a crash in the property market are premature. | |
| It says interest rates would have to rise by anther 2% before affordability for buyers became as stretched as it was before the property crash of the late 1980s, and is made more unlikely by the healthy state of the economy. |