Annual UK house prices decline by most since 2009

London: British house prices fell by the most since 2009 in the 12 months to June, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Friday, although monthly data showed a small unexpected rise.

Compared with June last year, the average house price was down 3.5 per cent after a 3.4 per cent annual fall in May, Nationwide said.

Prices rose by 0.1 per cent in June from May.

Britain’s housing market is slowing as the Bank of England raises interest rates sharply in an attempt to curb the highest inflation rate among the world’s big rich economies.

Earlier this year, the market showed signs of stabilisation after the turmoil of late 2022 when former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s “mini-budget” plans for tax cuts roiled financial markets.

But a run of stronger-than-expected inflation figures has pushed up bond yields and mortgage interest rates, most recently after the BoE raised its base rate by half a percentage point last week.

Much of the impact of higher borrowing costs on mortgage-holders has yet to hit the housing market.

Industry body UK Finance estimates 800,000 fixed-rate mortgages will need to be refinanced in the second half of this year, and a further 1.6 million in 2024, out of a total of around 9 million residential mortgages.