UK house prices fall for 3 months in a row, first time since 2009

LONDON: British house prices fell for a third consecutive month in May for the first time since 2009, according to a survey on Thursday that underlines the housing market's slowdown since last year's Brexit vote.

House prices fell 0.2% month-on-month in May, compared with a 0.4% drop in April, mortgage lender Nationwide said. A Reuters poll of economists pointed to a drop of 0.1%.

Year-on-year, house prices were 2.1% higher, slowing sharply from growth of 2.6% in April.

"It is still early days, but this provides further evidence that the housing market is losing momentum," said Robert Gardner, Nationwide chief economist.
"Moreover, this may be indicative of a wider slowdown in the household sector, though data continues to send mixed signals in this regard." - Reuters