Ashley Webb, an economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said that some of the increase may have been caused by people bringing forward purchases in order to avoid an increase in stamp duty, but that the figures still suggested “the housing market continues to shrug off both the weak economy and the recent rises in mortgage rates”.
UK house prices grew for the sixth month in a row in February despite signs of a sluggish economy, according to a building society, as economists expected a rush of people trying to complete purchases before stamp duty increases in April.
Gardner said: “The changes to stamp duty at the start of April are likely to generate volatility in transactions in the near term, as buyers bring forward their purchases to avoid the additional tax.
The average UK house price rose by 0.4% during the month, up from 0.1% the month before, according to an early measure from Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society.
Nationwide’s house price index is one of the earliest measures of movements in the UK housing market, ahead of indices from Halifax bank and the Land Registry.
