House Prices See Biggest Yearly Decline Since 2009
House prices are 5.3% lower compared to August last year in the biggest annual decline since 2009, according to Nationwide.
The building society said the drop represented a fall of £14,600 on a typical home in the UK since house prices peaked in August 2022.
It said higher borrowing costs for buyers had led to a slowdown in activity in the housing market.
Mortgage approvals are also about 20% below pre-Covid levels.
Since December 2021, the Bank of England has lifted interest rates 14 times in row in a bid to clamp down on rising consumer prices in the UK. The bank's base rate now stands at 5.25%.
That, in turn, has led to lenders raising their mortgage rates, putting increased pressure on homebuyers.
Nationwide's chief economist Robert Gardner said the rise in the cost of borrowing meant the fall in average house prices was "not surprising".
He told the BBC's Today programme that affordability for house was "much more stretched than it was before" pointing to a typical rate now being towards 6% compared to 1.5% in late 2021.
"Clearly that has had a big impact on the market as a whole," he added. "I think it is going to take time for things to pick up at all."