According to the Halifax, house prices fell for a third straight month in June. A 0.1 percent monthly dip followed a revised 0.2 percent decline in May and reduced annual inflation from minus 1.1 percent to minus 2.6 percent, its weakest print since June 2011.

The quarterly change, the best guide to underlying developments, was still positive but, at just 0.3 percent, saw a 3-month low. Regionally, the South East (minus 3.0 percent) posted the steepest drop ahead of London (minus 2.6 percent) but most parts of the UK recorded declines. That said, average prices have actually risen 1.5 percent so far in 2023 suggesting that the market in general continues to hold up quite well in the face of rapidly climbing mortgage interest rates.

The Halifax House Price Index (HPI) is the UK's longest running monthly house price measure with data covering the whole country going back to January 1983. The index is based on the largest monthly sample of mortgage data, typically covering around 15,000 house purchases per month, and covers the whole calendar month. In March 2016 Markit announced that it would be acquiring the Halifax HPI from Lloyds Banking Group. Halifax continues to publish the index on behalf of Markit and both the name and the basic methodology remain unchanged. However, in May 2020, the annual growth measure was changed from the average of the last three months to just the latest month.

Home values affect much in the economy - especially the housing and consumer sectors. Periods of rising home values encourage new construction while periods of soft home prices can damp housing starts. Changes in home values play key roles in consumer spending and in consumer financial health. During the first half of this decade sharply rising home prices boosted how much home equity households held. In turn, this increased consumers' ability to spend, based on wealth effects and from being able to draw upon expanding home equity lines of credit.