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London - UK house-prices fell for a second month in August, as high prices curbed demand and sales activity softened, Halifax said.
Prices slipped 0.2%, after dropping 1.1% in July, the mortgage lender said in a statement on Wednesday. From a year earlier, values increased 4.1% to an average £213 930, while the three-month annual rate of growth slowed to 6.9% in August, the lowest since 2013.
While Halifax didn’t mention whether Britain’s vote to leave the European Union was a factor in the August decline, last month it said it was too early to tell what the effect would be.
The most recent data from the Bank of England showed mortgage approvals slowed in July and the central bank has said both housing transactions and house-price inflation “may decline further.”
“House-price growth continued the trend of the past few months in August with a further moderation in both the annual and quarterly rates of increase,” said Martin Ellis, an economist at Halifax. “There are also signs of a softening in sales activity.”
House-price gains outpacing earnings is expected to constrain demand, curbing price growth, he said.
