Most regions saw a housing market pick-up in the just-finished third quarter of the year, says the Nationwide. 

Across England overall, prices were up 1.9% compared with Q3 2023. Northern England (comprising North, North West, Yorkshire & The Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands), continued to outperform southern England, with prices up 3.1% year-on-year. The North West was the best performing English region, with prices up 5.0% year-on-year.

Northern Ireland remained the best performer by some margin, with prices up 8.6% compared with Q3 2023. Scotland saw a noticeable acceleration in annual growth to 4.3% (from 1.4% in Q2), while Wales saw a more modest 2.5% year-on-year rise (from 1.4% the previous quarter).

Southern England (South West, Outer South East, Outer Metropolitan, London and East Anglia) saw a 1.3% year-on-year rise. 

London remained the best performing southern region with annual price growth of 2.0%. East Anglia was the only UK region to record an annual price fall, with prices down 0.8% year-on-year.

The Nationwide’s most recent data by property type reveals that terraced houses have seen the biggest percentage rise in prices over the last 12 months, with average prices up 3.5%. Semi-detached and flats saw increases of 2.8% and 2.7% respectively. Whilst detached houses saw more modest growth of 1.7%.

Over the longer term however, detached homes have continued to have a slight edge over other property types, most likely due to the ‘race for space’ seen during the pandemic. Indeed, since Q1 2020, the price of an average detached property increased by nearly 26%, while flats have only risen by c15% over the same period.