UK house prices rose by 1% from March, the most since June

UK house prices rose the most since June last month, overcoming potential uncertainty before the general election, Nationwide Building Society said.

Values rose 1 per cent from March, when they grew 0.1 per cent, the lender said in a statement on Wednesday.

Prices increased 5.2 per cent from a year earlier to £193,048 pounds (€270,450).

Britain’s economy expanded for a ninth quarter at the start of 2015, albeit at a slower pace than economists expected.

While house prices are rising, Nationwide said the pace of activity has been “fairly subdued” in recent months.

The general election on May 7 may be weighing on demand for housing, and that may ease once the vote passes, it said.

The upward pressure on prices may be because of a shortage of supply. Earlier this month, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors highlighted this problem and said Britain is facing a housing crisis.

"The strength of the economy and relatively subdued pace of activity in the housing market remains something of an anomaly," said Robert Gardner, chief economist of Nationwide.

“It is possible that heightened uncertainty ahead of the election is weighing on activity.”

- Bloomberg