House prices fall for a fifth month in a row

Data from Nationwide shows that house prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in January. The price of the average property was £258,297 last month, with this down by 0.6% on December. Year-on-year price growth slowed to 1.1%, down from 2.8% in December. Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said the affordability of mortgages is set to "remain challenging" in the short term due to higher interest rates. “Affordability pressures remain particularly acute in London and the south of England, where mortgage servicing costs have risen sharply compared with a year ago,” Gardner said. “Scotland and the north continue to be the most affordable regions but, even there, mortgage payments as a share of take-home pay are at their highest level for over a decade.” 

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