Nationwide has recently described the status of the UK housing market as stable based on house prices remaining unchanged from October to November.  The average house price in the UK now stands at 163,853 pounds.  One year ago house prices were slightly more than 1% higher.  House prices are a leading indicator of stability within the market.  Many economists have predicted that the year 2013 will bring flat or slightly negative movement of house prices overall.

Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, commented on house prices through a change of seasons, saying: “Indeed, UK house prices were unchanged over the month in November, after taking account of normal seasonal factors.

“Moreover, annual price growth has remained in a narrow band between +1.5 per cent and -1.5 per cent on all but two occasions over the past two years.”

Nationwide also mentioned that the ability for the housing market to move forward in a positive direction is tied to the ability for job creation to maintain positive growth.

Gardner added: “However, the fact that employment is above pre-crisis levels while economic output is still around three percentage points below its 2008 level, suggests that the pace of job creation may not be maintained at its recent rapid pace.

“Similarly, the fact that the unemployment rate remains elevated suggests that competition for jobs will remain intense, maintaining downward pressure on wage growth.

 “This supports our view that house prices are likely to remain broadly flat or decline modestly over the next twelve months.”