London house prices fall for first time in 8 years

LONDON: House prices in London have fallen for the first time since 2009 and prices across Britain overall rose at their slowest pace in more than four years in September, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Friday. In a latest sign of the slowdown in Britain’s housing market since last year’s Brexit vote, Nationwide said prices in London fell by an annual 0.6 per cent this month. The British capital — which has attracted property investors around the world — represented the weakest performing region in the country for the first time since 2005. Nationally, Nationwide said house prices rose 2.0 per cent year-on-year in September, slowing slightly from a rise of 2.1 per cent in August and the weakest increase since June 2013. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to annual growth of 1.9 per cent for house prices across Britain. Nationwide said pressure on household incomes, caused by rising inflation and slow wage growth, was cancelling out some of the support for the market from rock-bottom interest rates. — Reuters