UK house prices fall for first time in 17 months, says Nationwide
30th September 2014

House prices fell by 0.2% in September, according to Nationwide, the first decline it has recorded since April 2013.
Britain’s biggest building society said almost £1,000 was knocked of the value of a typical UK home as a result of the fall, which followed 16 consecutive monthly price rises and provides the latest evidence that the housing market is cooling.

However, Nationwide said the figures disguised wide regional variations, with average prices in London reaching a record high of £401,000, taking them 31% above their 2007 peak.

Nationwide said this was the first time prices had fallen on a monthly basis since April 2013, when they fell by 0.1%. As a result, the rate of annual house price growth fell from 11% to 9.4%.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said that while house price growth slowed in September, the picture on a quarterly basis was still relatively strong, with all 13 UK regions recording annual price gains.

Looking at the UK as whole, prices are around 2% above their pre-crisis peak. Gardner said price growth “may soften further” in the final three months of this year, though the outlook remained uncertain.

Nationwide’s figures came 24 hours after Bank of England data showed that mortgage lending for house purchases had slipped back for the second month running in August.

A few days earlier, the property analysts Hometrack said price growth had stalled for the first time in more than 18 months as increasing numbers of would-be buyers worry about the warnings of a property price bubble and a looming rise in interest rates.