House prices in the UK continue to fall at the fastest rate since the 2008 financial crisis.

House prices in the UK continue to fall at the fastest rate since the 2008 financial crisis. According to Halifax and Nationwide, rising mortgage rates are the primary driver behind the falling house prices. Both lenders have seen average falls of between 5.3% and 4.6% year on year.

House prices between July and August fell 1.9% year on year alone. Since December 2021 the Bank of England has lifted interest rates 14 times to a base rate of 5.25% with many market analysts expecting A further two rate hikes which could make the base rate set at 5.75% increasing pressure on landlords and mortgage holders.

The average home now costs around £279,000 in the UK according to Halifax these figures only include houses bought through residential means and do not include buy-to-let or homes bought with cash.

The average two-year fix now sits at 6.67% according to moneyfacts.com and the typical five-year deal will cost around 6%. Even though house prices are falling first-time buyers will still continue to feel pressure as the higher cost of living means that running costs overall are just higher. This is a concern as around one in three sales per year are first-time buyers. If first-time buyers cannot get onto the market or cannot afford to get onto the market then this has a ripple effect through the economy and the housing market as chains will struggle to move on.

Zoopla, one of the largest property estate agents suggested that there will be 21% fewer property sales in 2023 and that this will be the lowest number of property sales since 2012. The estate agents also estimate that the average buy-to-let landlord now needs 40% to 50% equity in a property to make it viable for them to rent.

Minipip looking at the figures in May this year and we’ve taken the average price movements and applied to what would now be the average house prices by region. Figures are based on Nationwide’s findings MoM price changes.

• Scotland - £189.7k
• North West - £253.7k
• North East - £178k
• West Midlands - £286.2k
• East Midlands - £285.7k
• Wales - £257k
• East England - £420.9k
• South West - £389.8k
• South East - £490k
• Yorkshire - £245.7k
• London - £690.2k
• Average - £279.5k