Nationwide HPI - Green Shoots?

For anyone watching the market—whether you're hunting for your next home or advising clients—this is a reassuring snapshot: while growth isn't soaring, momentum is back, affordability is inching up, and buyer interest and finance conditions are stabilising.

In July 2025, the UK housing market showed signs of resilience. Prices are trending upward again. Nationwide reports that:

• House prices rose 0.6% from June, after a temporary dip, signaling a renewed steady rhythm in market activity.

• Year-over-year growth modestly climbed from 2.1% to 2.4%, suggesting the market is recovering.

  
  

What's more encouraging? Affordability is improving, albeit slowly:

• The price-to-earnings ratio is about 5.75, the lowest in over a decade, down from the peak of 6.9 in 2022.

• Mortgage rates are easing too. A typical five-year fixed-rate mortgage is averaging around 4.3% (for buyers with a 25% deposit), significantly lower than last year’s highs.

Nationwide’s top economist, Robert Gardner, highlights a stable, supportive environment:

• Mortgage approvals in June were about 64,200 - in line with pre-pandemic levels.

• Wages are still growing, household finances remain healthy, and borrowing costs may fall further if more interest rate cuts come.

Are these the green shoots of recovery for the housing market? It's a little early to say for sure and from what we have seen it is still very much a buyer's market. What do you think?

https://www.nationwidehousepriceindex.co.uk/reports/annual-house-price-growth-edges-higher-in-july