Over the last twelve months, house prices in the Uk have had an interesting journey. And whilst prices have increased month-on-month, the market’s development year-on-year tells a different story.

Rightmove revealed in their latest statistics that House prices increased by 1.3% in March compared to one month earlier.

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Year-on-year, however, prices saw a drop of 2.3% down from 7.6% in March 2016.

This somewhat drastic shift has mainly been influenced by last year’s events following the announcement of an increase in stamp duty for second home owners. As this was announced in November 2015 but didn’t come into effect until April 2016, the market saw cash rich buyers rushing to secure a property at the lower rate.

With this in mind, it’s difficult to view recent developments as a natural progression.

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Rightmove’s director, Miles Shipside, commented: “While six consecutive years of price rises have been a gravy train for many home-owners, some of them are running into the buffers of affordability when they come to trade up.”

“Meanwhile many would-be first-time buyers are being left waiting on the platform struggling to even get on board. Modest average wage rises and tighter lending criteria have limited buyers’ ability to pay more.”

And whilst credits have become and remained incredibly cheap, banks have also become more cautious when it comes to their lending criteria.

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