House prices have fallen for three months in a row: by 1% in October, 2.4% in November and 1.4% in December.
England and Wales house prices fell by 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017 – the steepest decline since February 2009, data from London Central Portfolio has found.
House prices have fallen for three months in a row: by 1% in October, 2.4% in November and 1.4% in December.
Naomi Heaton, chief executive of LCP, said: “Having neither benefited from the bounce in prices seen in London in 2013/14, nor suffered greatly from the tax changes impacting the capital, average price growth in England and Wales has been steady over the past few years.
“However, the last three months of 2017 have seen successive price falls. As with Greater London, weaker sentiment and restrictions on borrowing have begun to impact buyers in England and Wales.
“There is a serious need to address the affordability issues within the sector and support the building of more low-cost housing outside London.
“According to LCP’s analysis, just 12.6% of properties sold in England and Wales were new builds, far fewer than both Greater London (17%) and Prime Central London (15.2%).”
Despite the decline at the end of 2017 annual growth still stood at 3.3%.
