In the wake of the Brexit vote, housing market confidence has fallen to its lowest levels in three years, according to a survey carried out on behalf of Halifax.

The bank's latest quarterly poll of consumer sentiment on house prices found a drop in optimism from a net positive score of 56 per cent in March to 42 per cent in September, says What Mortgage.

The 14 point drop represents the steepest decline since the survey was first conducted in 2011. The net rating is lower than any month since September 2013 when the market was recovering from a prolonged post-financial crisis slump.

But this is not to say that consumer attitudes to house prices are negative – far from it.

At 57 per cent, the proportion of respondents who expect house prices to be higher in 12 months' time than they are now is still almost four times the number (15 per cent) who anticipate a decline.

It's also apparent that the EU referendum, and resulting economic uncertainty, "has had little impact on buying and selling intentions", with only 15 per cent of those intending to conduct a house sale or purchase before the vote deciding to change their plans.

These figures appear to correlate strongly with wider house price indices, which show that buyer demand fell sharply after the Brexit vote but has recently bounced back, although housing supply remains low.

Overall this means that house prices have continued to rise, but at a slower rate and with already expensive parts of the country like London going into full-on reverse.

Martin Ellis, a Halifax housing economist, says: "Optimism in the housing market has taken a fall in recent months, with many people now expecting a general slowdown in the market and no, or little, change in house prices over the coming year.

"This sentiment is consistent with recent findings from the Halifax House Price Index which show that prices are still growing, but to a lesser extent."

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