2023-09-07 12:25:35
By Le Figaro with AFP
Just Posted, Just Updated
However, prices are still around 17% higher than their pre-Covid-19 levels. Mark Cosgrove/News Images/PANORAMIC
UK house prices fell in August at the fastest pace in nearly 15 years, weighed down by soaring mortgage rates in the face of persistently high inflation, research shows. Halifax bank released Thursday. The average price of a house was 279,569 pounds (about 325,000 euros) across the Channel, which represents “a 4.6% year-on-year fall, the steepest since 2009 – even as it compares to record property prices seen last summersays Halifax in a report.
Last week Nationwide, Halifax’s competitor, estimated in its own study that prices fell 5.3% year on year in August, again the largest decline since 2009. Mortgage rates soared in United Kingdom in the wake of the Bank of England’s tightening of inflation measures, making it difficult for many households to obtain a loan, which affects property prices.
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Rates above 6%
Although inflation marked time in July in the United Kingdom, at 6.8% over one year against 7.9% in June, it remains the highest of the G7 countries, fueling expectations that the Bank of England continues its monetary tightening. Halifax expects further downward pressure on house prices through the end of this year and into next, but recalls that prices are still around 17% above their levels before the Covid-19 pandemic.
While mortgage rates eased a bit last month, “they remain much higher compared to recent yearsnotes Kim Kinnaird, director of Halifax’s mortgage division, quoted in the report. That “may well have prompted potential buyers to postpone trades in hopes of some stability and greater clarity on the future direction of rates in the months ahead“, according to her.
Mortgage rates in the UK averaged above 6% in early September on fixed rates for 2 to 5 years (the most common in the country) even if they tended to fall slightly in recent weeks, according to information transmitted to AFP on Thursday by the financial data site Moneyfacts.
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