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Further indication of annual house price drop
7 May 2008 10:30
Yet another new set of figures has indicated that house prices were down year-on-year last month, although the property market's fundamentals remain extremely sturdy.
The average house price fell by 1.3 per cent to £189,027 in April, according to Halifax's data, which was a less substantial fall than the 2.5 per cent drop recorded in March, but nonetheless meant that prices were actually down by 0.9 per cent on a year ago.
Yet while the lender forecast that property prices would display a single digit decline for the year as a whole, it stressed the degree of regional variety within price movements, with some parts of the country, such as Scotland, still showing moderate increases.
Moreover, Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis insisted that price falls should be viewed in the context of almost threefold rises since 1997 and that a growing economy, low rates, high employment and a shortage of new homes all continue to underpin valuations.
Halifax's estimation of price movement is roughly in line with that displayed by Nationwide's latest figures, which showed that last month house prices were down by 0.7 per cent from March and by one per cent year-on-year, at an average of £178,555.
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