UK House Prices Fall for the First Time in Over a Year

UK house prices have fallen for the first time in over a year as the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority look to curb the rocketing costs involved in buying a home.

Data from British mortgage lender Nationwide has revealed that the average UK house price dipped by 0.2% in September - the first drop in 16 months.

In August, property prices rose by 0.8%.

Despite the recent dip in costs to buy a property, prices are still 9.4% higher than a year earlier although this is the smallest increase since February this year.

Higher house prices mean larger mortgages.

The FCA has forced lenders to conduct stricter affordability tests on potential borrowers, to ensure they can make repayments in a number of difference scenarios, such as materially higher interest rates.

And the BoE will from October cap mortgage lending. Banks will only be able to comprise 15% of their net new mortgage lending of loans worth 4.5 times or more the applicant's income.

These measures have been blamed for causing a Slump in the number of mortgage approvals for home purchases for August.

BoE data shows that there were 64,212 residential mortgage approvals in August, down from July's 66,100 and below the six-month average of 65,738. But it was higher than the 62,226 in August 2013.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average price of a UK home hit £272,000 (€348,757, $442,631.) in July 2014, a leap of 11.7% over the year.