House Price Update to 22 December 2010

UK House Prices Situation: Unemployment fears slowing market

UK House Prices Forecast: Little change likely in 2011 – falls possible

Halifax Reports Prices Down 0.1% In November

Average UK house prices fell by just 0.1% in November, according to the latest house price figures from Halifax. Despite this, in the three months to November, prices fell by 2.1%, leaving the annual rate of change for the year to November at -0.7% and the average UK house price at £164,708.

Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis said that the "highly mixed picture of house price rises and falls recorded this year" was "consistent with a relatively flat underlying trend for house prices."

The Halifax figures also show that house prices at the end of November were 2.4% lower than at the end of November 2009 but 6.5% higher than the low point reached in April 2009.

Once again, Halifax also highlighted how current low mortgage rates are helping homeowners, saying that typical mortgage payments for a new borrower have fallen from 48% of average disposable earnings in 2007 to 29% in the third quarter of 2010. This is below the long-term average of 37%.

RICS Forecasts Little Change In 2011

The latest UK housing survey by RICS found that 43% of surveyors who responded reported broadly stable house prices over the last three months, despite falling new buyer enquiries.

However, in its latest forecast, RICS has said it expects to see house prices remain broadly stable over 2011. It is forecasting that by the final quarter of 2011, house prices "will in all probability not be very different from where they currently stand", although RICS admits there may be a "negligible 2% drop".

Read about UK House Price indexes / key statistics that track the ups and downs of house prices

Read our take on the Credit Crisis the effect on UK House Prices and Mortgages. A Special Report

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