Further falls in house prices

The latest property news from Country Life reports that the price of an average house dropped to £169,316 during July, according to the latest report from Nationwide. This brings the annual fall to 8.1% although prices on average are still £11,000 higher than three years ago.

Activity in the housing market has slowed to almost a third of the transactions achieved last June, with no expectation of these numbers growing. The report says that 22% more lenders now expect that there will be less credit available to households over the next three months, which could limit a recovery in transactions.

In addition to this, there are 41% fewer first-time buyers now than at the same time last year, which may be due to people waiting until prices fall further, or frustration in obtaining finance, which means that chains become longer and are more likely to break down.

For more property news go to Country Life

Chosen by House to home