House prices fell at their fastest pace in almost a year last month as higher interest rates and the squeeze on incomes took their toll on the property market.
Prices fell by 0.3% between January and February, the first fall since last August and the steepest since April 2017, according to Nationwide. Economists had expected a small increase of 0.1%.
Although monthly price movements tend to be volatile, the building society said the slowdown was “consistent with signs of softening in the household sector in recent months”.
The annual rate of growth slowed from 3.2% in January to 2.2%, meaning that house prices are falling in real terms as they are rising more slowly than the 3% growth in consumer prices.
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