Halifax reports the average price of a house in the UK fell by 2.3%
Average house prices in the UK dropped by 2.3% between October and November - the biggest drop since 2008 and the third consecutive monthly fall.
The annual rate of growth also dipped last month to 4.7%, compared to 8.2% in October. A typical UK property cost £285,579 in November compared to £292,406 the month before.
Kim Kinnaird, director of Halifax Mortgages, said that the figures reflected “the worst of the market volatility over the recent months”.
The housing market has been in turmoil since September’s mini budget, with mortgages hitting 14-year highs.
But Kinnaird added the market “may now be going through a process of normalisation”.
“While some important factors like the limited supply of properties for sale will remain, the trajectory of mortgage rates, the robustness of household finances in the face of the rising cost of living, and how the economy – and more specifically the labour market – performs will be key in determining house prices changes in 2023,” she said.
The Halifax director also said the context was that house price increases in the last few years had been “the biggest the market has ever seen”.
Average UK property prices in November were up £12,000 more compared to this time last year and £46,403 above those of March 2020, pre-pandemic.
However, the bank noted that the North East of England was bucking the trend. Its rate of annual house price growth went up slightly between October and November, to 10.5% from 10.4%. It is now the only areas of the UK with an annual house price inflation in double figures.
Wales and the South West saw the sharpest slowdown of annual growth. Wales’ annual house price growth between October to November went from 11.5% to 7.9%, and those in the South West from 10.7% to 8.4%.
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