House prices: Nationwide national index shows prices falling at the sharpest rate since the summer of 2009

The latest national house price index has shown prices are falling at their fastest rate for 14 years.

According to the Nationwide Building Society, prices dropped by 3.8%, which is the biggest fall since July 2009 and leaves the average house price, across the UK, at £260,828, which is about £13,000 below August last year.

The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates again on Thursday from 5%, with predictions that they will go up to 5.25%. It would be 14th increase in borrowing costs since December 2021.

The UK inflation rate slowed to 7.9% in June, with analysts saying that they hope this means food inflation has now peaked.

That said, food prices remain high. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NielsenIQ retail analysts, food inflation slowed to 13.4% in July compared to 14.6% in June. 

There is help and advice for the cost of living crisis via the government help site on our home page