House prices and repossessions fall in July

The outlook for the housing market continued to darken yesterday after Government figures showed that house prices fell by 0.3 per cent between June and July.

In annual terms, growth slowed from 9.9 per cent in June to 8.4 per cent in July, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government. Meanwhile, on a more positive note, data from the Financial Services Authority showed that the numbers of people losing their homes had continued to decline the second quarter.

It said 9,978 properties were repossessed by lenders in the three months to June, down 5 per cent on the first quarter, and the lowest since before the worst of the financial crisis in the beginning of 2008.

The number of people getting into mortgage arrears also continued to decline, easing to 37,200 in the second quarter, down 8 per cent compared with the first three months of the years.