UK House Prices Fall for First Time Since November 2023
2 sources · United Kingdom
Who reported this
- The Guardian
- Reuters
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Every source for this story reports from United Kingdom.
UK house prices have decreased for the first time since November 2023, according to data from the lender Lloyds. The average property cost £298,468 in August, which represents a 0.2% drop from July and a 0.4% decrease compared to a year ago. This result fell below the 0.2% annual rise predicted by a Reuters poll of economists.
Regional data shows a divide in performance. Northern Ireland saw the highest growth with a 6.9% increase, followed by Scotland at 3.5% and Wales at 0.6%. In England, the north east and north west grew by 2.7% and 2% respectively. Conversely, the south east experienced the largest drop at 1.6%, while greater London prices fell by 1.5%.
Lloyds director Andrew Asaam described the market as subdued, citing higher inflation, borrowing costs, and geopolitical tensions. He noted that while homeowners are not aggressively cutting prices, many are choosing to sit tight. Mortgage approvals have reached their lowest level since the start of 2024. According to Moneyfacts, the average interest rate for two year and five year fixed residential mortgages stood at 5.63% and 5.68% respectively on Monday, both of which were below 5% at the start of the year.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- The center-left outlet framed the decline as a result of buyers being squeezed by mortgage rates, geopolitical uncertainty, and stretched affordability.
- Centre
- The center outlet focused on the primary data point of the price drop without providing extensive analysis.
Sources
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.