House prices dip as buyers rush to secure sales

House prices fell last month, an industry survey showed on Monday, as sellers rushed to secure deals against a backdrop of mounting financial uncertainty.

According to the latest Rightmove House Price Index, house prices fell 1.1% in November, taking the average asking price to £366,999. That compares to a 0.9% rise the month before.

Year-on-year, house prices grew by 7.2%, compared to annual growth of 7.8% in October.

November traditionally sees buyers price more competitively, as they look to offload properties ahead of Christmas. Rightmove said this year’s fall was in line with the average November declines seen during the pre-pandemic years of 2015 to 2019.

A total of 8% of unsold properties cut prices in October, double the amount in October 2021 yet largely in line with the 7.5% in the same month in 2019.

But Rightmove also acknowledged the market was facing considerable "financial uncertainty". Tim Bannister, director of property science, said: "The plethora of predictions about might what happen to prices next year comes at a time when much is still uncertain. But what is certain is that the exceptional price growth of the last two years is unsustainable against economic headwinds and growing affordability constraints."

New buyer demand rose 4% on 2019, but was down 20% on October 2021, while demand among first-time buyers tumbled 26% year-on-year.

Bannister said: "The now largely superseded mini-budget sped up the slowing of market activity that we had been seeing since the summer, and we’re now in another state of limbo as we wait for any surprises or help in Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement on Thursday.

"The frenzied market of the past two years has turned into a more normal market more abruptly and less smoothly that we were expecting."