Nationwide: house price growth hits 11.2% in January

“We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.”
The drugs have certainly taken hold of the UK property market, as house prices went bananas in January.
They were like some dude charging at you on Angel Dust in the back streets of Detroit.
You're gonna need a .357 Magnum to put him on his arse. A 9mm just ain't gonna cut it.
Anyway, I digress.
Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said:
“Annual house price growth accelerated to 11.2% in January, the strongest pace since June last year, and the strongest start to the year for 17 years. Prices rose by 0.8% month-on-month, after taking account of seasonal effects, the sixth consecutive monthly increase."
Nobody quite understands what "after taking account of seasonal effects" means, but hey.
You'll find views from Newspagers in all their glory below, but here are my two favourite reactions.
You've got Scott Taylor-Barr over at Shropshire-based Carl Summers Financial Services, getting all clever with his geopolitical macroeconomics.
"Right now a lot of the potential buyers I speak to are deeply conflicted. They want to buy a home but they are reading a lot about rising interest rates, inflation at record highs, tax increases and soaring energy costs, and on top of that a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. It's not surprising that people are approaching a big ticket purchase like a house with a little less of a gung-ho attitude in the current fraught climate."
And Kate Allen, owner at Devon-based luxury holiday lettings specialist, Salcombe Finest, puts in with her usual panache:
"Just like a bottle of Cockburn’s 1970 vintage port, the sheer lack of property will keep prices high. Whilst stock levels are as low as the Prime Minister's popularity, property prices are going to remain buoyant here throughout 2022. Even as wage growth slows this year as the cost of living crisis hits, it won’t stop deep-pocketed investors from quaffing Devon properties."