House prices recorded their 13th successive monthly increase in May, rising by 0.7%, according to the Nationwide Building Society.
As a result, the annual pace of price growth edged up to 11.1% up from 10.9% the previous month.
However, the UK’s largest building society’s house price index said there have been tentative signs that activity in the housing market may be starting to moderate, with mortgage approvals in April around 17% below January’s high.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “It is too early to say whether nationally this is indicative of a cooling trend in the wider market. The slowdown may partly be the result of the introduction of Mortgage Market Review (MMR) measures, which may take a few months to bed down. The underlying pace of activity should become more evident as we move through the summer months and the impact of MMR becomes clearer.
“However, with mortgage rates close to all-time lows and labour market conditions continuing to improve, underlying demand for homes is likely to remain strong.
“First time buyers are playing an increasingly important role in the housing market recovery. First time buyers accounted for 48% of house purchase activity in March, a record high well above the long run average of 38%. Data from DCLG suggests that the Help to Buy scheme is providing support to first time buyers, who accounted for over 80% of Help to Buy loans to date.
“However, the modest numbers involved so far suggest that Help to Buy is unlikely to be the main factor behind the recent pickup in the wider housing market. For example, 12,853 Help to Buy mortgages were completed in Q1 (6,327 under the mortgage guarantee scheme and 6,526 under the shared equity scheme), equivalent to around 9% of total mortgage completions over the period.
“Low mortgage rates and growing buyer confidence on the back of improving labour market conditions and the brighter economic outlook are probably playing a much greater role in stimulating buyer demand.”
