Subdued August weighs on UK house prices

(Sharecast News) - A subdued August left UK house prices largely unchanged, industry research showed on Monday. Subdued August weighs on UK house prices

According to the latest Rightmove House Price Index, house prices nudged up just 0.4% in September, following a 1.9% fall in August. The rise was below average for this time of year.

Year-on-year prices fell 0.4%, building on August's 0.1% decline and the biggest annual dip since March 2019.

The average house price is now £366,281.

Rightmove said activity was subdued. This was attributed to higher interest rates and buyers and sellers going on holiday. As a result, price reductions rose to a level not seen since January 2011. Currently 36.3% of properties on sale have had a price reduction.

Tim Bannister, director of property science at Rightmove, said: "It's been a slower than usual August, so all eyes will be on market activity over the next few weeks, which will set the trend for the rest of the year.

"The combination of 14 consecutive Bank of England interest rate rises and many buyers and sellers still catching up on lost pandemic holidays has contributed to a bigger than expected summer lull, though we still anticipate an autumn bounce."

The number of new properties coming to market jumped 12% in the first week of September when compared with the average weekly number throughout August, Rightmove noted.