• Annual house price growth slows to its weakest pace since February 2013

• Prices fell 0.7% in the month of December, after taking account of seasonal factors

• Outer Metropolitan and London regions both recorded small house price declines in 2018

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: “UK house price growth slowed noticeably as 2018 drew to a close, with prices just 0.5% higher than December 2017. “This marks a noticeable slowdown from previous months, where prices had been rising at a c2% pace. However, it is broadly in line with our expectations (since the start of the year we had been anticipating a price rise of c1% in 2018). “Indicators of housing market activity, such as the number of property transactions and the number of mortgages approved for house purchases, have remained broadly stable in recent months, but forward-looking indicators had suggested some softening was likely”.