House prices fall in England and Wales

The average cost of a property in England and Wales fell by 0.1% during July to £158,700 with buyers deciding to sit on the sidelines for the time being. At a when time estate agents have reported a 1.3% drop in the number of new buyers showing interest in properties there has been a 3.6% increase in the number of properties for sale. As a consequence, many experts believe that downward pressure on the UK property market will continue for some time and prices could fall further in the short to medium term.

This is a situation which many experts had predicted for the latter part of 2010 after hopes of a return to the boom time began to fade in the first few weeks of 2010. If as expected buyers continue to sit on the sidelines and sellers come to the fore there will be inevitable pressure on house prices and indeed we could see the creation of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why would any buyer jump into the market if the trend is downwards at a time when economic activity in the UK is set to fall further?

Quite what it will take to turnaround the UK property market remains to be seen but difficult times lay ahead, especially in the short to medium term.