House prices dropped by over £1,000 in June, the first fall at this time of year since 2009, according to property website Rightmove.
Spring price momentum stalled as the price of property coming to market declined by 0.4% or £1,172.
This took the average price of a property down to £316,109 – the first monthly decline in prices this year.
As a consequence, the annual rate of price increase has slowed to 1.8%, the lowest since April 2013.
Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said: “It now seems certain that we will have continuing political uncertainty, which the housing market traditionally dislikes, and with the first fall in June prices for eight years there is no doubt that the lack of stability is a factor.
“The price of property coming to the market had increased in June in every year since 2009, so buyer confidence has clearly been affected by inflation outstripping their pay packets and current political events. However, demand is still high and markets in some parts of the country seem to be getting used to coping with instability and are still strong.”
Rightmove said the national average figures concealed large differences between different local markets and property sectors, which appear to be reacting in widely variant reactions to the country’s overall air of uncertainty.
While prices across most regions rose, the national figure was dragged down by a fall in property prices of 2.4% in London and 0.9% in the South East.
However, while many will welcome the drop in prices, for those looking to get on the property ladder the news isn’t so good.
The typical first-time buyer sector with two bedrooms and fewer is now the fastest growing sector, and has seen newly-listed prices surge by 3.5% month-on-month and 5.5% year-on-year.
Shipside said: “The swingometer may be leaning towards a buyers’ market in some parts of the country, having been given another tilt in that direction by political uncertainty, but demand for housing and lack of buyer choice are maintaining a sellers’ market in others.
“London and its commuter belt are proving to be a drag on the national figures, but are currently counter-balanced by continuing momentum in other parts of the country. Markets traditionally slow in the second half of the year, and with a slowing in the pace of asking price rises and the forthcoming months of political and economic confusion, the usual slower market in the second half of the year seems to be one of the few certainties in 2017.”
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