UK house prices fall by 1 per cent

The average price of a house or flat in Britain now stands at £218,390, the UK’s largest lender said.

The rolling quarterly figure, which measures changes over the previous three months, fell by 0.1 per cent.

It marks the third month in a row that figure has fallen , which hadn’t happened since November 2012.

Measured on an annual basis, the growth in house prices eased from 3.3 per cent in May to 2.6 per cent in June, the lowest increase for four years.

The Halifax said one reason for the slowdown was the fact that consumers were increasingly being squeezed as increases in incomes failed to keep up with inflation.

“Although employment levels continue to rise, household finances face increasing pressure as consumer prices grow faster than wages,” said Martin Ellis, Halifax’s housing economist.

“This, combined with the new stamp duty on buy-to-let and second homes in 2016, appears to have weakened housing demand in recent months.”