UK house prices fall 1% but Brexit questions remain

House prices sank by 1% in July, but experts have deemed it too soon to tell by how much Brexit has dampened the residential market.

Mortgage lender Halifax revealed that average UK prices dropped to £214,678 last month in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

That fall reversed a 1.2% gain in June. Compared with a year earlier, prices in the three months to July were up by 8.4%.

Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis admitted there were signs that house-price growth is slowing but added that “it remains too early to determine if there has been any impact” from the result of the referendum.

Housebuilder Bellway’s boss Ted Ayres also said it was “too early” to assess the impact from Brexit, but plans to be more cautious on purchasing new sites.

However, Ayres added that trading in recent weeks had been “encouraging”.

The firm expects to report a revenue rise of 27% to £2.2 billion for the year to July 31.

Bellway shares earlier jumped 109p to 2138p.