House prices in April rose at the fastest rate since 2004, according to new figures.
The UK also faces a potential sales “super-boom”, with buyers rushing to take advantage of the extension of the government’s stamp duty holiday.
The annual rate of growth was up on the 5.7% recorded in March, and just below the peak rate recorded during the coronavirus pandemic of 7.3% in December.
“Just as expectations of the end of the stamp duty holiday led to a slowdown in house price growth in March, so the extension of the stamp duty holiday in the budget prompted a re-acceleration in April,” said Robert Gardner, the chief economist at Nationwide.
“The combination of high demand and low supply could create the conditions for a housing super-boom the likes of which we haven’t seen since the early 2000s,” said Iain McKenzie, the chief executive of the Guild of Property Professionals.