Welcome to This Is Money Podcast. I'm Georgie Frost and joining me and editor Simon Lambert today is Deputy Editor Helen Crane. And coming up, annual house prices fall by the largest amount since 2012. It comes as mortgage approvals also fall for the fifth month in a row. Are we to see a crash or could we get a softer landing?

Also, as OffGEM announces April's price cap, which we won't be paying, we meet the smart

meter addicts at war with their energy bills. And from 3% interest to free spending overseas,

we run the rule over the best perks from digital-only bank accounts. Don't forget you stay up to date with all the

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interested in trading and investing. But first, house prices have started to fall annually for the

first time since the early months of the pandemic. Nationwide's latest index shows the biggest

fall since 2012, with high mortgage rates and the cost of living crisis continuing to squeeze

the property market. This month was

a sixth successive month of house prices falling, with the average home dropping almost 16,500

from the August peak of 273,751 pounds. Mortgage approval has also fallen to levels last seen

in the aftermath of the financial crisis

as higher interest rates leave buyers reluctant to commit to a new home. So where Simon Lambert

is this all heading before we get their property prices? What's going on? Biggest fall since 2012.

I mean, you know, that's massive, isn't it?

Until you realise that house prices only declined by 1.1%,

which is not so massive, I suppose, you know.

There's two ways of running that sentence.

And yeah, one definitely undermines the drama of the first bit but as you mentioned actually a more pertinent statistic is how far house prices

...