Home prices in the U.K. resumed their decline to open the second quarter, erasing some of the small gains seen in the previous months and suggesting the housing market recovery is struggling to gain traction, according to Financial Times. On Wednesday, Nationwide reported that its house price index fell by 0.2% in April from the previous month, which brought the year-over-year change to a 1.3% decline. However, the quarter-over-quarter change showed a 0.6% increase on gains posted during February and March.
Robert Gardner of Nationwide said the current trend of small fluctuations indicates that “the market is fairly static,” but noted, “There is still little evidence to suggest that price declines will accelerate in the months ahead.” A separate report from the Bank of England showed that new mortgage approvals jumped to 47,557 during March, which is highest level in five months. The level was significantly above the six-month average of 46,283, although remortgage approvals totaled 32,116, which was slightly below the average over the past half-year.
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