Asking prices for houses in the UK sharply fell in August as rising mortgage costs prompted sellers to lower their expectations of what they could achieve for their properties, a survey published on Monday revealed.
The website Rightmove reported that the average asking prices for homes fell by 1.9 percent, marking the largest monthly drop in August since 2018 and double the usual decline seen during the summer.
The UK housing market, which thrived during the Covid-19 pandemic, has weakened as the Bank of England sharply raised interest rates due to high inflation.
Mortgage lenders Nationwide and Halifax had previously reported a decline in selling prices in July.
Rightmove’s survey also showed that the number of homes sold fell by 15 percent compared to 2019, before the pandemic.
Sales of homes typically sought by first-time buyers fell by a somewhat milder 10 percent, reflecting a jump in rental prices for properties in that category of 12 percent over the past year, Rightmove reported.
Overall house sales in the market fell by 10 percent compared to August 2019.
Average asking prices for houses were two percent below the peak price in May, but reflecting the surge in demand during the pandemic, they remained 19 percent higher than in August 2019, Rightmove highlighted.
