Average house prices fell by 0.2% in October, Hometrack has reported.

This compared to falls of 0.1% over each of the previous five months. The year-on-year rate of growth currently stands at -2.8%.


The property analytics business said that above average price falls were registered in the West Midlands (-0.6%), East Midlands (-0.4%) and the North East (-0.4%).


House prices in London remained static following seven months of consistent rises. A slowdown in the capital will impact the scale of price changes nationally in the months ahead, Hometrack warned.


The number of areas registering price falls increased over October – over a third (34%) of postcodes saw prices falls, compared to 25% in September.


Demand for housing fell for the third consecutive month in a row (-0.2% in October) as concerns over the economy and household finances took their toll on would-be buyers.


On the supply-side, October registered a 1.3% increase in the number of properties listed with agents. Over the last six months supply has grown 11%. Hometrack said the balance between supply and demand is clearly shifting and points to an acceleration in price falls in the coming months.


Weaker demand is starting to impact on the average time on the market which has grown for the last three months and currently stands at 9.8 weeks. However, October did see a rise in the number of sales agreed (6.3%) as vendors look to agree sales and move before the end of the year.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: “Growing consumer concern over the outlook for the economy is beginning to impact directly on house prices according to evidence from the latest monthly housing market survey from Hometrack