UK house prices decline for second month, posts weakest quarterly growth since Dec 2014

House prices in the United Kingdom declined for the second straight month in August, registering the weakest quarterly growth since December 2014, following high prices that curbed demand and sales activity softened during the period.

Housing prices slipped 0.2 percent, after dropping 1.1 percent in July, data released by the mortgage lender Halifax showed in a statement on Wednesday. In the three months through August, values grew 0.7 percent, the slowest quarterly pace since December 2014.

Further, from a year earlier, values increased 4.1 percent to an average 213,930 pounds (USD286,923), while the three-month annual rate of growth slowed to the least since 2013. Compared to August 2015, prices are 6.9 percent higher, the Halifax said, down from an annual rate of growth of 8.4 percent in July and the lowest yearly growth rate since October 2013.

For the three months to August, prices are 0.7 higher than the previous three months (i.e. March to May) but this is the lowest quarterly growth rate since December 2014, Halifax added in its report.

"House-price growth continued the trend of the past few months in August with a further moderation in both the annual and quarterly rates of increase," Bloomberg reported, citing Martin Ellis, Economist, Halifax.