The homeowners left £15,000 worse off as property prices slide

HOMES have had almost £1,000 wiped off their value in the past month, it has emerged, and in one area they are worth an average of £15,000 less than they were a year ago.

Property prices have fallen by 0.3 per cent since June – the fourth consecutive monthly decline, according to Halifax, the UK’s Britain’s biggest mortgage lender.

A typical home now costs £285,044, down from £285,932 in the previous month. In the past year, the value of a typical home has fallen by 2.4 per cent, a fall of £8,948.

But property prices have tumbled faster in some areas, including the South East, which saw values decline by 3.9 per cent year on year.

An average home in the area is now worth £382,489 – about £15,500 less than 12 months ago.

But Kim Kinnaird, director of Halifax Mortgages, said the market ‘continues

‘Gradual rather than precipitous’

to display a degree of resilience in the face of tough economic headwinds’.

She added: ‘The continued affordability squeeze will mean constrained market activity persists and we expect house prices to continue to fall into next year.

‘Based on our current economic assumptions, we anticipate that being a gradual rather than a precipitous decline. And one that is unlikely to fully reverse the house price growth recorded over recent years, with average property prices still some £45,000 (19 per cent) above pre-Covid levels.’

The news comes after the Bank of England last week voted to raise interest rates to a 15-year high of 5.25 per cent in an attempt to bring soaring inflation back under control.

It fell to 7.9 per cent in June, slightly below the market’s expectation of 8.2 per cent. As a result, experts now predict that the base rate will not need to climb as high as previously feared.

The average two-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked down to 6.84 per cent today, with a typical five-year deal at 6.35 per cent, according to rate analyst Moneyfacts Compare. But although borrowing costs are now stabilising or even falling, they are likely to remain higher than homeowners have been used to in the last decade, Halifax said. As a result, house prices will continue to gradually decline into the new year. Nicky Stevenson, managing director at estate agent Fine & Country, said: ‘ The easing of inflation improves the outlook for the property market, and although prices are still likely to cool further, it should be at a much slower rate than originally predicted.’

■ August is the most popular month to move home, according to a price comparison website for moving home services. It has been the most popular month for the past 11 years, suggests analysis of more than 630,000 removal quotes collected by really moving.

The last Friday in August is the busiest day of the year for moving, the findings indicate.