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UK House Prices Situation: House prices falling steadily across
the UK
UK
House Prices Forecast: Falls likely to continue well into
2009
Price
Falls Continue in November
The
latest housing figures from the Halifax show that house
prices are continuing to fall steadily across the
UK.
The
Halifax reported a drop in the average price of 2.6% in November,
taking the annual fall to 13.9%. This figure was somewhat
at odds with Nationwide's figure of 0.4% for almost the same
period, however. The reason for this might be the different
customer bases of the two lenders - each compiles its house
price figures from the mortgage loans it issues.
On
a most positive note, interest rate cuts
mean that mortgages are getting cheaper and affordability
is improving. According to the Halifax, affordability is at
its best for five years, with the house price to earnings
ratio having fallen to 4.56 - down from a high of 5.84 in
July 2007.
Long-time
homeowners need not worry too much either - house
prices are still 124% higher than they were in 1998
- meaning that your house has grown in value much more than
any cash savings you might have.
Have
Sellers Accepted Reality Yet?
Property
website Rightmove's latest house price index suggests that
sellers are still having problems accepting the reality of
falling house prices.
Its
figures show a 2.9% fall in asking prices in November, bringing
the annual rate down to -7.1%. Although a
noticeable drop, Rightmove says that estate agents are reporting
actual sale figures that are typically around 20% below peak
boom prices (summer 2007). This suggests that sellers are
still setting their asking prices too high when placing their
homes on the market, slowing down any potential
sales.
Miles
Shipside, Rightmove's commercial director, says, "Some
sellers could avoid months of disillusionment and despair"
if they put their homes on the market at more realistic selling
prices.
Read
about UK House Price indexes
/ key statistics that track the ups and downs of house prices
.
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