Leaving the European Union would impact the UK residential property market with prices likely to fall significantly and make mortgages more expensive, according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.

Speaking on national television, he warned that if there is a Brexit then the values of homes will fall. He also revealed that the Treasury is about to publish a major piece of research on how Brexit would affect that UK economy and that one major issue that emerges is the effect on real estate.

‘You will see the analysis we will do, but I’m pretty clear that there will be a significant hit to the value of people’s homes and to the costs of mortgages. That is one example of the kind of economic impact that we get from leaving the EU,’ he said on of ITV’s Peston on Sunday politics programme.

He has spoken out as the campaigning ahead of the EU referendum on 23 June hots up. The polls have been neck and neck but at the beginning of May an ICM poll put the leave camp slightly ahead at 45% compared to 44% for remain.