15.9 percent fall in house prices last year
According to recently released figures 2008 saw house prices in the UK fall by 15.9 percent. The figures come from a survey from the Nationwide Building Society.
According to the building society December saw house prices fall by a further 2.5 percent, and this has brought the total house price fall for the year to 15.9 percent. The annual fall has resulted in the average house prices dropping to £153,048, which is £29,000 less than a year ago.
House prices are now said to be around 18 percent lower than they were at their peak, which was in October 2007, and according to officials from the Nationwide house prices have fallen for around fourteen months in a row.
One senior official from the building society described last year as ‘a year of turmoil’. She said: “The disruption in the financial markets worsened throughout 2008 and had larger implications for the real economy than we anticipated a year ago. We did not anticipate the speed of house price falls or the extent of the global and domestic economic slowdown.”
Last year also saw mortgage availability plummet and the number of property sales fall through the floor, and officials predict that these problems will continue for the foreseeable future.
The Nationwide official went on to state: “Prices have further to fall before significant numbers of buyers will be willing to return to the market. Until the economy and the labour market stabilise, it is hard to imagine households becoming upbeat about the immediate future for house prices and this will hinder the pace of recovery.”
She added: “In addition, the wider economic recession also impacts negatively on household expectations of future incomes.”
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