Average house asking price falls by £5k

The average price tag on a home coming on the market has dipped by nearly £5,000 month-on-month, marking the first fall this year so far, according to a property website.

Across Britain, the average asking price fell by 1.3% or £4,795 in cash terms month-onmonth in August to reach £365,173, Rightmove said.

However, the fall may be more due to a usual seasonal lull than wider economic factors such as interest rate rises, the website said.

Prices usually fall in August, and the 1.3% drop is in line with the average drop seen that month over the past 10 years.

This month also marks 20 years since the first Rightmove house price index was first published.

The average asking price for a home has more than doubled since then, standing at £155,994 when the index started.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property science, said: “A drop in asking prices is to be expected this month, as the market returns towards normal seasonal patterns after a frenzied two years, and many would-be home movers become distracted by the summer holidays.”

He added: “We’re still expecting... the rest of the year to continue to follow the usual seasonal pattern, which means we’ll end the year at around 7% annual growth.”

Rightmove said that a combination of rising house prices and interest rates mean that average monthly mortgage payments for new first-time buyers putting down a 10% deposit now exceed £1,000 – at £1,032.

Despite this, demand for properties in the typical first-time buyer sector is 32% higher than at this time in 2019, it said.