Eight-year record drop in house prices
8th May 2018

UK house prices fell by 3.1% last month over March – the biggest monthly fall since 2010 – amid declining home sales and almost record low levels of homes on the market, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index published today (8 May).

The year-on-year figure was up however but with a 2.2% increase markedly lower that the 2.7 in the year to March. The quarterly change was marginally down by 0.1%.

Halifax managing director Russell Galley said: "We’ve seen annual house price growth ease from 2.7% in March to 2.2% in April. House prices in the three months to April were 0.1% lower than the previous three months. Both the quarterly and annual rates have fallen since reaching a recent peak last autumn, with these measures providing a more stable indication of the underlying trend than the monthly change.

“Housing demand has softened in the early months of 2018, with both mortgage approvals and completed home sales edging down. Housing supply – as measured by the stock of homes for sale and new instructions – is also still very low.

However, the UK labour market is performing strongly with unemployment continuing to fall and wage growth finally picking up. These factors should help to ease pressure on household finances and as a result we expect annual price growth will remain in our forecast range 0-3% this year.”