House price slide
fastest for 16 years
LONDON (ShareCast) - House
prices fell at the fastest
annual rate for 16 years
in June, but the month -on-month
pace of decline slowed,
with the latest fall a third
of that seen in the previous
month.
The Nationwide Building
Society's house price index
fell 0.9% in June to a seaonally
adjusted 342.3 from 345.5
in May, when the index showed
a monthly fall of 2.5%.
However, the year-on-year
decline picked up pace,
with June 2008 house prices
6.3% down on June 2007,
compared with a 4.4% year-on-year
decline in May.
House prices are down 7.3%
from the peak seen in October
of last year but are still
4% higher than two years
ago.
The average selling price
in the UK dipped to £172,415
in June, according to Nationwide,
from £173,583 in May.
"This is over £13,500
less than it would have
cost at the top of the market
and over £11,500 less
than this time last year,"
said Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's
chief economist, in reference
to the average selling price
of houses.
"However, the strength
of house price growth up
until last year means that
prices are still 4% higher
than two years ago and 9%
higher than three years
ago," she added.
London remains the most
expensive place to buy a
house, despite a 3.8% dip
in prices in the second
quarter of 2008, while the
north of England has the
cheapest houses, on average.
Nationwide's latest figures
show Scotland registering
the strongest annual price
growth in house prices with
Northern Ireland showing
the weakest growth.
Twelve out of the thirteen
regions experienced year-on-year
falls in house prices, Nationwide
said.
