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Mortgage lender Nationwide said house prices rose 2.1 percent
year-on-year in August, slowing from 2.9 percent in July and
matching May's four-year low.
A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to annual growth of 2.5
percent.
Britain's housing sector has slowed sharply since the vote in
June 2016 to leave the European Union, when prices were growing
by more than 5 percent a year.
"The moderation in price growth primarily reflects the squeeze
on real wages and the slowdown in the pace that mortgage rates
are falling," said Samuel Tombs, economist at consultancy
Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"Prices likely will continue to struggle to rise much, given
that inflation still has further to rise, consumer confidence
has deteriorated sharply since June and lenders intend to reduce
the supply of unsecured credit."
Nationwide said house prices slipped 0.1 percent in August
compared with the previous month, after rising 0.2 percent in
July.
Other house price surveys have painted a similar picture.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said British house
prices rose at their slowest rate in over four years last month,
while the number of sales slowed due to a limited supply of
property and continued political uncertainty.
On Wednesday the Bank of England is due to publish mortgage
lending data for July.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; editing by Kate Holton)
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