House prices tumble 0.6pc in June to mark third consecutive fall, says Halifax
HOUSE prices in the UK unexpectedly fell by 0.6 per cent in June for the third month in a row, trimming the annual rise in property prices to 8.7 per cent last month.
The Halifax data comes just days after rival mortgage provider Nationwide reported that the rise in house prices slowed to just 0.1 per cent in June from 0.5 per cent in May. This pattern is in line with our view that house prices will be broadly unchanged over 2010 as a whole, Halifax said.
The drop in prices disappointed analysts, who had expected a 0.2 per cent rise.
Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight, said the fall added to a recent flurry of soft data on the housing market and stokes our relative pessimism over the housing market. “Indeed, we increasingly suspect that house prices will be only flat over the rest of this year. We had previously thought a small rise was possible.”
The Halifax survey provided evidence that the increase in supply of property to the
market is exerting some downward pressure on prices, said RICS’ chief economist Simon Rubinsohn.
He added: “The flatter trend in pricing is consistent with our own analysis which indicates that the second half of the year is likely to prove more challenging as the supply of properties on the market begins to catch up with demand.”