Housing market downturn gathers pace

Hometrack has reported that house prices fell 1.2% in July, declining for the tenth consecutive month.

According to the property intelligence firm, the price of the average home now stands at £168,500 or £2,000 less than one month ago.

This marks an annual decline of 4.4% that has taken £7,800 off the average house price.

Hometrack is convinced that the property market slowdown is now gathering pace.

According to its data, the number of buyers registering with estate agents fell by 6.4% this month, following a drop of 5.7% in June and 6.7% in May.

Meanwhile, the number of properties on the market rose by 1.1% in July and the time it taken to sell a property rose to an average of 11 weeks, up from 10.3 weeks in June.

In July, vendors needing a quick sale accepted an average 90.9% of their asking price, compared to 91.6% in June.

Southern England remained the greatest casualty of the downturn but the survey revealed price falls in 65 postcode districts of England and Wales.

On a regional basis, East Anglia saw the sharpest drop in July, with the average cost of a home falling by 1.4%.

Greater London, the South East, South West and East Midlands all saw house prices slide a further 1.3%.

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