UK house prices in double digit fall

UK house prices recorded an annual fall of 13% since last August, wiping £25,000 off the value of the average UK property in a year according to Halifax.

The lender said that property prices dropped 1.8% in August compared with July, leaving the cost of an average home in the UK at £174,178.

Halifax warned homeowners that market conditions will remain challenging, as it revealed that the annual decline is the steepest it has ever recorded - since it began compiling data in 1983.

The figures show that the average price of a home in the UK was at the same level in August 2008 as it was in February 2006.

The figures were released just a few hours before the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee was set to announce its latest decision on interest rates.