House prices rose 6.5 per cent on an annually this November, Nationwide reports – the highest growth rate seen since January 2015.

This compares to the 5.8 per cent figure seen in October and takes the average UK house price to £229,721.

On a monthly basis, house prices rose 0.9 per cent in November, up on the 0.8 per cent figure seen in October.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner points out that housing market activity was “robust” even though the economic recovery had “lost momentum” before the latest lockdown, with economic growth falling from 6.3 per cent in July to 1.1 per cent in September and unemployment rising to 4.8 per cent in the three months to September.

“The outlook remains highly uncertain and will depend heavily on how the pandemic and the measures to contain it evolve as well as the efficacy of policy measures implemented to limit the damage to the wider economy,” he says.

“However, housing market activity is likely to slow in the coming quarters, perhaps sharply, if the labour market weakens as most analysts expect,” Gardner adds.

Fine & Country managing director Nicky Stevenson comments: “The way valuations have defiantly continued to climb is characteristic of an environment in which buyers are regularly having to bid against more than one opponent across a wider variety of homes than usual.

“However, a chill may be just around the corner. Conveyancing bottlenecks will begin to govern the volume of sales as soon as Christmas is out of the way. As soon as we hit the New Year, we will likely know just how many people moved their plans forward when they heard the chancellor announce the stamp duty holiday.

“The closer we get to the end of March, when the scheme ends, the more these market metrics will reflect the back of that wave, the crest of which has already started to take shape. HMRC reported an 8 per cent annual climb in residential transactions in October which was a big breakout moment for a market that has seen sales volumes remain stubbornly low by historic standards for over a decade.

“With only four months of stamp duty tax breaks left, vacant and chain free properties at both ends of the market have become highly prized for their ability to slip through solicitors’ hands with ease.”

And James Pendleton property expert Lucy Pendleton says: “The fact that house price growth will soften in the first half of 2021 is possibly the worst kept secret in property but significant, outright falls are not a done deal.

“There has been some speculation that house prices will decline next year by 8 per cent, roughly in line with the dent made in GDP this year, but the market may yet defeat those forecasts. Buyers were nimble in how they reacted to the stamp duty holiday but they are rarely financially naive.

“The demand that continues to drive this growth has been fuelled by those who feel financially secure and can think long term. The longer this winning streak continues, the more of them there are, so a softer landing next year might be more self-fulfilling than people imagine.”