Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money · 7 September 2026
source“House prices record first annual fall since 2023 as mortgage rates remain high”
R2/ 10
Lightly altered
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates Daily Mail Money's claim that UK house prices posted their "first annual fall since 2023" a 2/10 because the figure, the 0.4% drop, and the £298,468 average price all match Lloyds' own release word for word, with only the missed-forecast context left out.
The Verdict
Lightly altered, close to base fact. The headline and body faithfully reproduce Lloyds' own framing of a 0.4% annual fall to £298,468, but the article omits that this reading missed economists' median forecast of a rise and that July's initial growth figure was quietly revised into a fall, both of which sharpen just how weak the underlying trend is.
What actually happened
Lloyds' House Price Index (formerly branded Halifax) recorded a 0.4% annual fall in average UK house prices for August, the first year-on-year decline since November 2023, taking the average property to £298,468. Prices fell 0.2% month-on-month, and Lloyds attributed the slowdown to elevated mortgage rates, cautious buyers and sellers reluctant to cut asking prices.
Key facts
- Average UK house price: £298,468 in August 2026, down 0.4% year-on-year, the first annual fall since November 2023.
- Monthly change: -0.2% in August, which Reuters noted defied a Reuters poll median forecast of a +0.2% rise, a miss the Mail article does not mention.
- July's initial reading of +0.1% growth was later revised down to a 0.1% fall, a detail also absent from the Mail's write-up.
- Regional split confirmed by Lloyds: South East -1.6% (£381,729), Greater London -1.5% (£534,177), versus Northern Ireland +6.9%, Scotland +3.5%, North East +2.7%.
- Two-year and five-year fixed mortgage rates now average around 5.6%, up from roughly 4.9% before the Middle East conflict, per Moneyfacts.
- Mortgage approvals are at their lowest level since the start of 2024, per Lloyds' Andrew Asaam.
What to watch for
Watch whether September's reading confirms a genuine trend reversal or whether it gets revised away like July's did, given Lloyds' own data has already flipped once this cycle. Keep an eye on whether the London/South East weakness spreads north, or whether the regional divide (falls in the south, gains in Scotland and Northern Ireland) simply reflects affordability ceilings being tested first in the most expensive markets.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
