British house prices show biggest drop in almost three years

British house prices have recorded their biggest year-on-year decline in almost three years amid the toughening economy, Nationwide building society said yesterday.

But the market has shown “resilience” compared with some other countries, despite the 2.6% annual drop taking average prices to £164,389 (€204,325) in July, Nationwide added.

UK house prices are 13% below their 2007 peak, but this is still less than the falls seen in the US and Spain, which have seen drops of around a fifth relative to their peak.