UK house prices drop for third month in a row on weakening demand
Research group Hometrack sees demand weakening amid an uncertain economic outlook
House prices in Britain fell for a third month in a row last month on weakening demand that may continue to weigh on property values, Hometrack said.
Prices declined 0.1 per cent from August and 0.5 per cent from a year earlier, the London-based property research group said. The number of new buyers registering with real-estate agents fell 3.6 per cent, the biggest drop in eight months.
"The uncertain economic outlook, together with affordability pressures, will continue to act as a drag on housing-market activity," said Richard Donnell, Hometrack's director of research. "Pricing will remain under slow downward pressure, but a tightening of supply will limit the scale of price falls in the short term."
Donnell said that pressure on home values may outweigh the effects of a boost to mortgage lending provided by the Bank of England's new credit-boosting programme. The central bank's policymakers will probably commit to completing their plan to raise bond holdings to £375 billion (HK$4.7 trillion) as they assess the impact of their initiatives to aid economic growth.
Prices did not rise in any region of England and Wales. Values were unchanged in London and the southwest of England, and declined everywhere else.
Prices fell "on the back of weakening demand, a fall in sales agreed and a repricing of unsold stock", Donnell said.