00:00 According to Nationwide, UK house prices dropped at their fastest annual pace for 14 years
00:06 in July.
00:07 The Building Society said prices dropped by 3.8%, which is the biggest decline since July
00:12 2009.
00:13 But despite this, mortgage interest rates remain high, meaning affordability continues
00:17 to be a challenge for house buyers.
00:19 Nationwide said that affordability remains stretched.
00:23 The average price of a home in the UK at the moment is over £260,000, which is 4.5% below
00:29 the peak of August last year.
00:31 Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said a prospective buyer earning the average
00:35 wage and looking to buy the typical first-time buyer property with a 20% deposit would see
00:41 monthly mortgage payments account for 43% of their take-home pay, assuming a 6% mortgage
00:47 rate.
00:48 This is up from 32% from a year ago.
00:50 The bank is expected to raise interest rates again on Thursday from 5% to at least 5.25%.
00:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments