The fourth quarter of 2022 saw more homes losing value rather than gaining, research from online estate agent Zoopla found, though almost 94% of UK houses increased in price last year.
Now over one million households have lost any gains made during the pandemic.
Homeowners gained an average of £19,000 on their houses in 2022, with 3mln houses rising by more than £50,000.
However, more than 2mln houses fell in price last year - losing on average £7,300 per home.
In the second half of 2022 around 8.2mln houses began losing value, the online house price platform operator added.
“People’s desire to move home, and record-low mortgage rates combined with the chronic lack of homes for sale (37% below the five-year average) supported house price growth up until the summer.,” the Zoopla report said.
“Since then, rising living costs and a sharp spike in mortgage rates following the mini-budget saw demand for homes fall by 50% in the final three months of the year”.
Since October around 15.8mln houses lost value, just under 2mln more than the 13.9mln homes that gained value.
London appears the worst affected, with 26% of homes in the capital registering a decline in 2022- almost half of the 1mln pandemic gains that were lost occurred within the M25.
“The profile of gains and losses varies right across the country, knocking any notion of a single market that moves in unison across the country,” said Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla.
Share prices of house builders are heavily down over the past six months with Persimmon 23% lower, Vistry (-16.4%) and Barratt Developments (-8.7%).