UK house prices continued their upward trend in February, marking the sixth consecutive month of growth, despite the economy showing signs of sluggishness. This increase comes amid economists’ predictions of a surge in buyers aiming to finalize purchases before the upcoming rise in stamp duty in April.

The average UK house price saw a 0.4% rise this month, up from January’s 0.1%, according to an early indicator from Nationwide, the country’s largest building society. This brought the average house price to £270,493 through purchases made via Nationwide.

This growth translated into a 3.9% rise over the past year, though this was less than the 4.1% annual increase recorded in January. Nationwide’s house price index is one of the earliest indicators of movements in the UK housing market, preceding indices from Halifax bank and the Land Registry.

Despite these increases, the annual growth of UK average house prices has not yet reached the 10+% rates seen in 2022 during the property sales boom prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, noted that housing market activity has remained resilient despite affordability challenges. He observed a significant increase in housing transactions in the second half of 2024, though the overall number of deals for the year was still 6% less than the levels in 2019.

Ashley Webb, an economist at Capital Economics, suggested that the increase might have been driven by buyers trying to avoid the stamp duty increase. However, the figures still indicate that the housing market is defying economic weakness and recent mortgage rate hikes.

Temporary cuts to stamp duty, introduced by the Conservative government, will end on 1 April in England and Northern Ireland. Changes will affect the thresholds for first-time buyers and the rates for reduced stamp duty, potentially causing short-term volatility in transactions.

Gardner stated that the April changes to stamp duty are expected to lead to an immediate surge in transactions as buyers rush to complete their purchases before the tax increase.

Rightmove, the UK’s leading online property platform, reported sustained interest in property purchases for 2024, with users spending 16.4 billion minutes on its site, marking a 6% increase from 2023. Despite this, the company reported flat profits alongside a 7% increase in annual sales.