House prices in the South West show strongest growth in Q2 2010

New figures from Nationwide show that UK house prices increased by 1.9% quarter on quarter in Q2 of 2010. The figures also show that annual house price growth in the South West has reached double figures, whilst Northern Ireland was the only region to see house prices fall in this quarter (Q2).

Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said:

“The second quarter of 2010 saw continued house price growth across nearly all UK regions. For the UK as a whole, prices rose by 1.9% in the quarter, leading to a slight increase in the annual growth rate from 8.8% in the first quarter to 9.5%.

“The South West of England saw the strongest growth in the quarter, with prices up by a seasonally adjusted 3.0%. This resulted in a pick up in annual growth from 8.9% to 12.5%. Greater London continued to be the best performing region on an annual basis with prices up 13.2% on Q2 2009.

“Similar to the first quarter, the northern and midland regions generally saw weaker growth than the southern regions. The East Midlands saw the weakest growth out of the English regions, with quarterly price growth of 1.2%. Despite a better performance this quarter, the North remained the weakest region on an annual basis, with prices up 6.0% year-on-year. The Outer Metropolitan region retained second place behind London, with annual growth of 12.9%, following a 2.3% increase over the quarter.

“Annual house price growth in Scotland picked up from 5.6% in the first quarter to 7.2%, but remained below the UK average. Quarterly price growth in Wales was similar to the rest of the UK, with a 1.8% rise in the quarter. However, on an annual basis, Wales was the second weakest region with prices up only 4.7% year-on-year.

“Northern Ireland experienced another weak quarter, with the quarterly rate of change falling from -1.0% to -5.7%. On an annual basis, house prices were down 5.2% – a slight deterioration from the 3.0% year-on-year fall in the first quarter. Northern Ireland remained the worst performing UK region.”