• UK house prices suffer their first drop in a year according to figures compiled by Britain’s biggest lender.
• Average property worth £293,221
• Annual growth strongest in Wales at 14.7%
• UK Economy shrinks and heads into recession

Average UK house prices dipped slightly in July 2022 for the first time in over a year, according to property market data from Halifax, part of the Lloyds banking group.

The lender’s house price index revealed that price growth slowed by 0.1%, or £365, month-on-month since June, valuing an average UK home at £293,221.

The annual rate of house price growth eased to 11.8%, down from 12.5% last month.

This month, separate house price data from the Nationwide building society and Zoopla also indicated a slight slowdown of the UK’s property market.

Last week I reported that HMRC property transactions data for June shows there were 96,920 sales, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the third slowest June for a decade and down 4% on June 2019.

Sales are down 55% compared with 2021 and on a monthly basis down 3.1%, according to the HMRC data based on stamp duty submissions.

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Bank of England rate rises for the sixth time in seven months to 1.75% are making mortgages more expensive, which means lenders are reducing borrowing levels.

Halifax said that price gains for larger properties are noticeably outpacing those for lower homes. The price of a detached house has jumped by 15.1%, the equivalent of £60,860, over the past year, compared to a rise of just 7.7% (£11,962) for flats.

Wales topped the table in July with annual inflation up by 14.7%, valuing an average property in the principality at £222,639. This was followed by the south west of England (up by 14.3%) and Northern Ireland (up by 14%).

London again recorded slower annual house price growth compared with other parts of the UK, although 7.9% was the capital’s largest increase in five years.

Russell Galley, Halifax’s managing director, said: “Looking ahead, house prices are likely to come under more pressure as market tailwinds fade further and the headwinds of rising interest rates and increased living costs take a firmer hold.”

Housing sales expectations are now at their lowest level since March 2020, experts have revealed.

Sales expectations for the coming 12 months have fallen 36% in July, down from June’s 21%, according to a survey conducted by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) before the Bank of England last week announced its biggest rate hike since 1995.

Britain’s housing market, like that in many other rich nations, boomed during the pandemic as people sought more space to work and socialise at home. However, a quarter of property professionals now report new buyer enquiries falling in July, the third month in a row of an overall decline.

Contributing factors include higher interest rates and the cost-of-living crisis, which affects affordability and confidence.

Half of estate agents reported that average selling prices are no longer exceeding asking prices for properties worth up to £500,000 and vendors properties priced at £1m or more are forced to accept lower offers. Only 39% say average sales prices of properties £500,000 to £1m are over asking price.

Open House South Herts is advertising property deals in the north of the UK from just £30,000 asking price with yields of between 10 and 15%. – see https://www.facebook.com/estateagentswatfordelstreeandborehamwood

UK economy shrinks Q2 as recession looms

The UK economy officially shrank between April and June as the Bank of England predicts the country will fall into recession later this year.

The economy or GDP contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter of the year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports, but is not yet in recession because it grew by 0.8% in the first quarter.

A recession is defined as the economy getting smaller for two consecutive three-month periods.

The US economy has declined in the first two quarters, but is not officially in recession by their measures.

Banks not passing on interest rate rises to savers!

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