Print

House prices continue to fall in August

Jude Buttle

A survey by property investment consultants Hometrack revealed that house prices fell in August for the 11^th month running and now stand 5.3 % lower than this time last year.

It marked the biggest annual fall since the survey began in 2001 and compared with a 4.4% drop reported in Hometrack's July survey.

Richard Donnell, Hometrack's director of research, believed there were indications that falling prices were starting to attract buyer interest but warned it could be a while before the market stabilised.

"We may well start to see a moderation in the rate of monthly price falls. However, with ever growing uncertainty amongst households over the broader economic outlook the current re-pricing of housing still has some way to run," he said.

According to the survey, properties are now on average taking more than 11 weeks to sell, almost twice the time taken a year ago.

The number of viewings to achieve a sale fell for the first time in almost a year and the proportion of the asking price being achieved fell from 90.9% in July, to 90.7% in August, the lowest level since the survey began.