Low mortgage approvals influences drop in house prices

Economic uncertainty and low mortgage approvals has seen asking prices for homes in England and Wales drop for the fourth month in the past five.

According to the property website Rightmove, prices fell 3.2 percent this month, their sharpest drop since December 2007.

The annual rate of growth, meanwhile, fell to 1.3 percent from 2.9 percent in October.

"Agents report that the Christmas slowdown has come early this year, as both would-be buyers and sellers are adopting a 'wait and see' policy until the direction of next year's housing market becomes more apparent," commented Miles Shipside, a Rightmove director.

Earlier this month, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed that buy-to-let lending rose by 12 per cent in the third quarter.

This has been largely attributed to ongoing demand for rental property allied to a dysfunctional owner-occupier market.

The CML said that there were 26,900 buy-to-let loans advanced in the third quarter.