Whatever other problems the British economy may face, you can usually rely on one thing: through good times and bad, the property market remains buoyant. There has not been a really significant crash since the early 1990s, and ever since then, a home has been the best investment anyone could make. In 1990, the average house cost £58,000. By this year, that had risen to £270,000, a rise of 365%. Even adjusted for inflation, the average price has more than doubled. The UK does not build nearly enough homes, especially given the rapid rise in the total population. So the existing ones keep getting more valuable.

Yet signs are starting to emerge that the market is turning. In 2022, prices were rising by 14% a year. That has slowed dramatically, and we are now starting to see absolute falls. The average price fell by 1.2% in July, a fall of almost £5,000 on the average property, according to figures from Rightmove released on Monday. In London, which used to keep driving prices higher, the fall was a more significant 1.5%. Of course, that is just one monthly set of figures. The data are always volatile. Even so, Rightmove is reporting the largest falls in summer prices for 20 years. That may well be a sign that prices are starting to decline significantly. Here are four factors contributing to the coming crash.

Why a house price crash is around the corner