House prices fall for first time in 15 months

House prices fell in July for the first time in 15 months, new data from Hometrack has revealed today.

Prices fell by 0.1% in July as a fall in demand, coupled with a rising supply of new properties on the market, forced prices to drop from June levels.

The last month to experience a fall in house prices was April 2009, when prices fell by 0.3%.

According to Hometrack, supply has been outstripping demand since March. The average time a property now spends on the market has jumped to 8.7 weeks, the first rise in waiting times for six months.

London, which led the upturn in prices 12 months ago, is now leading the slowdown as July house prices in the capital fell by 0.2%.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: “Levels of demand for housing have been slowing for the last five months. In July they fell by 1.3% triggering the first monthly fall in house prices for 15 months.

“Further modest price falls are inevitable over the second half of the year as the volume of homes for sale continues to rise and demand remains weak on the back of concerns over the wider economic outlook and uncertainty over the impact of recently announced cuts in government spending.”