Rising House Prices End - Rightmove

• News
• Published: 19 Jul 2010 in Money and Mortgages

The average price of a house in England and Wales is down for the first time this year, and the number of homes for sale has reached more than double the rate of mortgages being approved, according to property website Rightmove. 

Values fell by 0.6% to £236,332 in the four weeks to July 10. 

Around 30,000 new properties were put up for sale each week during the month of July, up 45% on the same month in 2009, Rightmove said. 

Each estate agent had an average 77 houses on the books, the highest number since August 2008 and rising for the fifth month in a row. This has resulted in five new houses being offered for sale for every two people who get a new mortgage. 

The website said the UK property market is quickly shifting financial power to buyers because of the increasing number of houses available, adding that average values are likely to fall again in the latter half of 2010. House prices rose by an average £15,506 (7%) since January to reach £237,767 by June, it said. 

Rightmove's Miles Shipside said: "More aggressive pricing is likely to see the average price gains of 7% for the first half of the year wiped out by year-end, in line with Rightmove's original forecast for the year of no net change in prices."