United Kingdom house prices fall in September: Halifax

The number of people citing rising prices or prices being too high has fallen from 35 per cent to 31 per cent in the last three months, despite the continued increase in house prices.

Craig McKinlay, mortgage director at the bank, said that the factors behind the upward pressure on house prices include the continued lack of second-hand properties for sale on the market and the availability of low mortgage rates. There is little reason to expect any fundamental shift in the key market drivers over the coming months, ‘ he added.

‘These types of flat cost far more than a London house – for example, we sold the Bulgari Hotel Penthouse in Knightsbridge for £39million previous year’.

But, the volume of mortgage approvals increased for the third consecutive month in August to the highest level since January 2014, the findings reveal.

Halifax said that monthly price movements can be volatile and quarterly changes can often be a more reliable indicator of the underlying direction of the housing market.

That’s a huge fall from the 2.7 per cent rise between July and August.

The annual rate of growth eased from 9% to 8.6% in the three months to September, according to the Halifax house price index. Annual house price inflation on the Halifax measure was still more than double the Nationwide’s annual house price inflation of 3.8% in September.

Separate research shows that there has been a 60% increase in the average price of a flat over the past 10 years, significantly higher than the 38% rise for all residential properties.