UK HOUSE PRICES CONTINUE TO FALL

House prices in the UK continued to fall in January, for the fifth month in a row, according to Nationwide.

Demand for mortgages also tumbled to their lowest level since the 2020 COVID lockdown, according to figures from the Bank of England, which found the number of home loan approvals continued to drop in December.

Robert Gardiner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said the gloomy economic outlook was likely to continue to have an impact on the housing market and prospective buyers.

“It will be hard for the market to regain much momentum in the near term as economic headwinds are set to remain strong, with real earnings likely to fall further and the labour market widely projected to weaken as the economy shrinks,” he said.

Nationwide found that prospective house buyers were facing a bigger challenge to afford property, as a result of the increase in mortgage rates.

Policymakers are expected to increase the central bank’s base rate to 4%, which would be the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.