Halifax HPI: Biggest monthly price drop since the financial crisis

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, comments on the publication of the Halifax House Price Index (HPI), showing biggest monthly price drop since the financial crisis.

Key points from publication:
    • In November, prices were down 2.3% in a month to an average of £285,579. This is the third consecutive month of falls, and the largest since the financial crisis in 2008.
    • Average prices are still £12,000 higher than this time last year, and £46,403 higher than the month before the pandemic (March 2020).
    • Annual price rises slowed again, to 4.7%. This has shrunk from the peak of 12.5% in June.
Sarah Coles says:

“Things have officially gone from bad to worse in the property market, with the biggest monthly price drop since the financial crisis of 2008.

“We’re not yet in the realms of annual price falls, but if this pace continues, it won’t be long until we are.

“What’s even more worrying is that it takes around three months for a sale to move from being agreed to being completed, so these figures reflect sellers’ decisions in August – before the disastrous mini-budget.

“It means that buyers were already getting cold feet before Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcement forced mortgage rates through the roof.

“Since then, the fallout from the mini-budget mayhem has been a catastrophic loss in confidence. Even though mortgage rates are starting to fall again from the peaks, we’re still seeing sales fall through, while new buyers and sellers decide to bide their time.

“RICS figures show buyer demand is still sliding, and lower mortgage approval figures from the Bank of England show that it’s unlikely to bounce back in the short term. Market confidence has plummeted, and nobody is in a hurry to buy in a falling market.

“The fact we’re highly likely to be in a recession is only going to make people less confident about splashing out on a new home. So as bad as these figures are, things could get even worse as we go into 2023.”

 

Kindly shared by Hargreaves Lansdown

Main article photo courtesy of Pixabay