But the building society said riskier mortgages had now become more expensive for borrowers.

Prices rose 0.7% in September, taking the average price of a home to £184,723 from £183,898 in August.

However, Nationwide said annual price growth slowed to 9% in September from 9.6% - its lowest in almost a year.

The building society added that most of the slowdown in annual price inflation was down to the effect of recent Bank of England interest rate hikes. But the group added that recent problems in the financial markets would "undoubtedly... take the froth out of the market".