They were up by 0.2 per cent in October compared to September and by the same percentage on a rolling three-month basis.
The growth figure remained below one per cent for the eleventh month in a row.
While house prices have risen by £800 during the past 12 months, this was “a significant slowing compared to the £9,100 rise during the same period in 2016,” said Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide.
The UK’s solid labour market and the current low cost of borrowing appeared “to be offsetting the drag from the uncertain economic outlook”. “The question is whether this pattern will continue,” Gardner said.
“While indicators of UK economic activity have been fairly volatile in recent quarters, the underlying pace of growth appears to have slowed as a result of weaker global growth and an intensifying of Brexit uncertainty.
“There were tentative signs of softening in the jobs market in the three months to August; employment fell, unemployment rose and wage growth slowed. If this trend continues it would be a significant concern because the labour market has been the most important factor in the resilience of the household sector in recent years,” Gardner said.
He continued that interest rate increases were likely to be limited by trends in global financial markets. “Weak global economic prospects continue to enter downward pressure on long-term interest rates around the world including in the UK,” he added.
