Annual house price growth edges up to 1.6% in August as Nationwide points to easing wage pressure

Nationwide put annual house price growth at 1.6% in August, up from 1.4% in July, with prices 0.2% higher month on month after seasonal adjustment. Chief economist Robert Gardner said easing private sector wage growth gives the Bank of England room before its mid-September decision. For sellers that means pricing to a flat market, not a rising one; for buyers, affordability is improving slowly as earnings outpace prices. This is a modest drift, not a recovery.