House price growth will continue to be flat over the coming year, according to mortgage lender Nationwide. The head of Britain's biggest building society, Philip Williamson, commented that he expected little growth in prices "to continue for the next 12 months".

The prediction came as Nationwide reported a rise in pre-tax profits to £255m ($440m) for the six months to 30 September, from £224m last year.

Recent reports have pointed to signs of some recovery in the UK housing market. Official figures from the Land Registry and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in August showed that house prices were falling at a much reduced pace. A pick-up in mortgage lending also followed a cut in interest rates to 4.5% in August.

Earlier this month, Nationwide reported that house prices increased by 1.3% in October, leaving the average house price at £157,107.

However, the building society cautioned at the time that it was "far too early to say that prices will continue to accelerate from here".

Unveiling its interim results, Nationwide said that its share of the net mortgage market had dropped to 8.3% in the six months to September, from 13.7% last year.However, the lender said it expected its share of the UK market to rise again to bout 9% by the end of the year.

"We have adopted a purposively cautious approach to mortgage lending... but we expect our profitability to continue to do well," said Mr Williamson.

 

 

 

 

 

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