Can anything slow the runaway train crashing into generation rent?

Year-on-year prices are up 13.4 per cent, month on month they’re up 0.7 per cent, and while mortgage payments are still looking relatively affordable, what happens if interest rates start rising? James Moore explains

Annual house-price rises have accelerated to 13.4 per cent (PA)

The brickbats keep on coming for generation rent. Their chances of getting on the housing ladder, and getting their piece of what Theresa May once portentously described as “the British dream”, get slimmer by the day, especially for those without access to the Bank of Mum and Dad PLC.

But just how bad is it? Pretty bad if you look at the raw figures from Nationwide. The building society’s house price index is moving skyward at the fastest rate in 17 years.

The average house price now stands at £245,432, against £216,403 a year ago, which is a rise of 13.4 per cent year on year and an increase of 0.7 per cent month on month.