Average home loses almost £20,000 in value
House prices in the UK have seen an annual fall of over 10% for the first time since 1990, according to figures released by the Nationwide.
The building society found prices were 10.5% lower in August 2008 than they had been 12 months earlier, knocking £19,000 off the price of the average home.
Nationwide predicted the market would remain flat for some time due to a lack of activity by housebuilders and the continued reluctance and caution by the banks to lend.
“There is clearly less mortgage borrowing taking place in the current market, but those borrowers choosing a new loan are tending to opt for fixed-rate loans, even though they have been more expensive than trackers,” said Fionnuala Earley, chief economist at Nationwide.
