Meagre capital appreciation over past 12 months

Meagre capital appreciation over past 12 months

Detached houses saw the biggest percentage price rise over the last 12 months, says the Nationwide.

Average detached property prices were up 2.4% year on year.

Terraced properties saw similar growth of 2.1%, with semi-detached slightly weaker at 1.5%. 

However, flats saw a small year-on-year decline of 0.5%.

Robert Gardner, chief economist at the Nationwide, comments: “Looking over the longer term, flats have seen noticeably weaker growth than other property types. 

“For example, since the start of 2020, the price of a typical flat has increased by 15%, half the rise in the price of detached houses, which saw a 30% rise over the same period. 

“This is partly a reflection of regional trends where London, which has a much greater proportion of flats, has underperformed the wider UK.”

Nationwide’s regional house price indices show that in Q1 2026 most regions saw modest annual house price growth.

Two of the 13 regions saw annual price declines – the weakest performing region was Outer South East (-0.7% year-on-year), followed by East Anglia (-0.4%). 

In addition, another three regions recorded annual growth of less than 1% (West Midlands, East Midlands and the South West).

At the other end of the spectrum, Northern Ireland continued to outpace the rest of the UK by a wide margin, with prices increasing by 9.5% over the year. 

This was more than six times faster than the 1.5% recorded in the UK as a whole (in Q1) and nearly three times higher than the 3.3% recorded in the next strongest region (North West). 

This strong performance mirrored that in the border regions of Ireland over the same period.

Scotland saw a pickup in annual house price growth in Q1 to 3.0%, from 1.9% in Q4 2025. This was closely followed by Wales, where prices were up 2.7% year-on-year.

England saw a further slowing in annual house price growth to 0.9%, from 1.2% in Q4. 

Average prices in Northern England (comprising North, North West, Yorkshire & The Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands) were up 1.5% year on year, with the North West (which includes areas such as Cheshire, Lancashire & Greater Manchester) remaining the top performing region in England – with prices up 3.3% year on year.

Average house price growth in Southern England (South West, Outer South East, Outer Metropolitan, London and East Anglia) remained steady at 0.6%. 

London was the strongest southern region, with an annual price rise of 1.7%, up from 0.7% last quarter. 

Meanwhile East Anglia and the Outer South East both saw small annual declines.

This article is taken from Landlord Today