RSS FeedsHouse Prices in the UK fall
06/03/2008
A report by HBOS Plc showed today that house prices in the UK fell by 0.3% in February. This is the first time in three months, suggesting again that falling property prices could weigh down the UK economy as many have been fearing for a while now.
The UK’s biggest mortgage lender said in a statement on the Regulatory News Service earlier today that the average cost of a home in the UK dropped by 0.3%, which could equate to a lot of money for many homeowners. On the year however, prices climbed overall by 4.2%.
Mortgage approvals have been in their lowest in nearly nine years, which could mean problems in the financial market and house prices may not recover as quickly as some might have hoped. Home loans have seen a reduction by lenders and they haven’t followed suit with the cut in interest rates since December. All of this builds a grim picture of what looks like might be a slow downhill fall in the UK housing market.
The chief economist at HBOS, Martin Ellis said that “House prices will be flat in 2008,’’ and went onto say that the “Housing market activity has declined significantly.''
On February 13th The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said that this was the worst slump in the UK housing market since the UK recovered from recession back in the early 90’s. Later that month Nationwide Building Society went onto say that UK house prices for the fourth month consecutively in February.
As well as these concerns made over the last few months, Britain’s largest homebuilder Taylor Wimpey Plc announced today of what was described as a “difficult trading environment” and that annual profit dropped by 31% as property markets have showed a slow down.
The housing market seems so unstable at present that it is difficult to predict what might happen next.