UK house price falls continue in July

August 1, 2008 by OPPE News

Building society Nationwide is reporting the biggest annual UK house price falls since it began its property survey in 1991.

The average house is now worth 8.1 per cent less than it was one year ago, according to the figures.

Statistics also show the average price now stands at £169,316, down on £172,415 just a month ago, meaning a typical home has lost more than £3,000 in value in the space of four weeks. Month on month this breaks down to drop of 1.7 per cent.

Nationwide chief economist Fionnuala Earley said:

“The weakening economy and poor housing market sentiment do not suggest the market will recover quickly.”

However, she also added that on average prices are still almost £11,000 higher than three years ago.

Earlier this week the National Housing Federation (NHF) said a study by Oxford Economics shows prices will continue to fall into 2009 but will rapidly increase again by 2011.

Quoted by BBC news, Ed Stansfield, property economist at Capital Economics, said:

“With the economy weakening and few signs of an end to the credit squeeze, the pace of the house price correction is likely to continue to gather momentum over the remainder of this year.”