House prices fall at sharpest rate this year - Rightmove
UK house prices fell in August by the largest month-on-month rate this year, but still improved compared to last year and there continued to be a wide variance between the health of the housing market in different parts of the country
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House prices of properties coming to market fell 0.9% month-on-month in August, Rightmove calculated, which was better than the average 1.2% decline at this time of year since 2010.
On an annual basis prices ticked up 3.1% but this was against a month last year when the market saw a sharp fall in asking prices immediately after the Brexit vote, and follows a 2.8% increase in July this year.
The 'top of the market' saw the biggest monthly decline in prices, falling 2.6%, with first-time buyers seeing a 1.1% fall and 'second steppers' roughly flat.
The average house price fell to £313,663 from £317,421 in July.
London price fell 1.9% on the month, in line with the average 2.2% drop seen at this time of year since 2010, while compared to last August London prices were up 1.6%, with more easterly boroughs rising most.
Inner London saw prices fall 2.9% on the month and outer London by 0.9%, with the worse performing boroughs being Hammersmith & Fulham and Haringey.
Many areas in England were enjoying stronger growth, with Midlands counties Northamptonshire and Derbyshire, as well as Norfolk in the east, seeing some of the biggest rises as Rightmove noted that eight counties in the middle band of the country are enjoying a mini-boom, with year-on-year rises of over twice the pace of the national average
“The heat has come off much of the market," said Rightmove director Miles Shipside. "A combination of traditional summertime price blues and the chill of uncertainty in the air has cooled price growth in some parts of the country, and affordability also remains very stretched.
"But despite these factors, high demand and limited supply are still driving momentum, especially in the counties in the middle of the country. Here, year-on-year rises at over twice the pace of the national average are widespread, in contrast to southern and northern counties where none have approached these heady heights.”