Nationwide’s latest index puts UK annual house-price growth at 0.8 percent in September, half August’s 1.6 percent rate and the weakest annual rise since December 2025.
The building society’s 1 October release also records a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent monthly fall, reversing August’s 0.2 percent increase. Its non-seasonally adjusted average price was £274,251, down from £275,465 in August.
Landlords weighing an acquisition, sale or refinance now have a softer national valuation backdrop to test against local evidence. The figures do not set an individual property’s value, but they make optimistic exit assumptions harder to justify where buyer finance remains expensive.
September growth fell to its weakest rate since December
Nationwide’s monthly index fell from 549.6 in August to 548.3 in September after seasonal adjustment. The 0.8 percent annual change compares the September index with the same month last year, so it is a different measure from the monthly fall.
The lender links the subdued market to economic uncertainty and higher market interest rates that feed into mortgage pricing. It also says affordability has improved over time because earnings have risen faster than house prices, although higher mortgage rates have offset part of that gain.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s September coverage of Nationwide’s August index, when the source recorded a 0.2 percent monthly increase and 1.6 percent annual growth. The new reading reverses that monthly move and slows the annual rate, rather than confirming a broad price fall across every region.
Northern markets held up better than southern markets
Nationwide’s separate Q3 regional series should not be mixed with the monthly UK index. It puts annual growth for the three months to September at 3.9 percent in the North West, 3.3 percent in Scotland and 3.3 percent in the North, while East Anglia was down 0.7 percent.
London rose 0.4 percent year on year in that quarterly series and was the only southern region to record an increase. Average prices across southern England were down 0.1 percent, while the group of northern English regions was up 1.6 percent.
That split matters for buy-to-let decisions because a national headline can hide different resale conditions and deposit requirements. A landlord buying in a stronger regional market should still check local listings, achieved prices and the rent needed to support the mortgage.
Flats remained the weakest property type
Terraced homes recorded the strongest annual rise across property types in Q3, at 1.8 percent, while prices for flats were essentially unchanged from a year earlier. Nationwide says a typical flat has risen 14 percent since the start of 2020, compared with 31 percent for a typical semi-detached home.
The pattern is relevant to investors with leasehold stock, particularly where service charges, lease length or local supply narrow the buyer pool. Landlord Knowledge’s recent report on Lloyds’ first annual house-price fall since 2023 also showed how lender indices can diverge by timing and sample, so no single index should replace a property-specific valuation.
The Nationwide September report makes clear that the regional statistics cover Q3 while its headline monthly figures cover September. That timing distinction is important when comparing a local quarterly trend with the latest monthly market signal.
What this means for landlords
- If you are selling: test the asking price against competing local stock and recent comparable sales before relying on August’s stronger national annual rate.
- If you are buying: use the slower national growth reading as a prompt to check local supply, rental demand and mortgage affordability rather than assuming a uniform discount.
- Watch for: whether October mortgage pricing and new sales evidence support or reverse September’s softer monthly reading.
- Bottom line: Nationwide’s data points to a slower national market, but regional and property-type differences remain material to an investor’s decision.
Editor’s view
A softer headline is useful only when it changes the questions a landlord asks. September’s index is a reason to price and finance conservatively, not a reason to assume every local market has turned.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 01 October 2026
Sources: Nationwide House Price Index
Related reading: Nationwide: August house prices edge up 0.2%
