UK house prices drop again as Halifax says first-time buyers are switching to smaller homes

Decline in July is fourth monthly fall in a row with prices dropping by 2.4% on an annual basis, says lender

The average UK house price has fallen for the fourth month in a row, according to Halifax, which says higher borrowing costs are increasingly pushing first-time buyers to switch to smaller homes.

The average price fell by 0.3% in July, the bank's monthly index showed, with a typical UK home costing 285,044, compared with a peak of 293,992 last August.