Nationwide: UK annual house price growth halves to 0.8% in September from 1.6%

Nationwide's September index, published on 1 October, shows annual UK house price growth slowing to 0.8% from 1.6% in August, with prices down 0.2% on the month. Higher mortgage borrowing costs over recent months are squeezing what buyers can afford, which is cooling bidding and pulling the annual rate down quickly. For buyers, that means a little more room to negotiate; for sellers, pricing realistically from the outset matters more than it did earlier in the year. Regional gaps remain wide (Northern Ireland up 5.9%, East Anglia down 0.7%), so this is a cooling market rather than a broad fall.