On the ground we are not finding a huge change in prices, just a determination for buyers and sellers to get on with moving but at more realistic price levels
The latest Halifax house price index has revealed the lowest yearly growth rate since October 2013, as during the three months to August, house prices were only 6.9% higher than the previous year.
This was down from 8.4% in July, continuing the downward trend since March when the annual rate reached 10.0%. House prices in the three months to August were 0.7% higher than in the previous quarter, down from 1.5% in July.
The quarterly rate of increase has been on a downward trend over the past six months since peaking at 3.0% in February, according to the data.
House prices declined by 0.2% between July and August.
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: “House price growth continued the trend of the past few months in August with a further moderation in both the annual and quarterly rates of increase. There are also signs of a softening in sales activity.
The slowdown in the rate of house price growth is consistent with the forecast that we made at the end of 2015. Increasing difficulties in purchasing a home as house prices continued to
