Halifax Call House Price Fall

There has been a 0.1% house price fall in November, according to The Halifax.

The Lloyds Banking Group subsidiary claims that the price for an average property is now 0.7% cheaper than it was this time last year. The UK average house price now stands at £164,708.

A major reason for this fall is that demand is not matching supply but in a reverse way where there are simply more properties available than there are buyers willing to purchase.

A less sensitive comparison of prices, the three month on three month comparison, showed a different figure of an overall 2.1% decrease in November.

Although the decrease in prices has picked up in pace as we approach the end of 2010 it is not as aggressive a drop as the one seen in 2008 where prices declined by 6-8% in the same period.

Martin Ellis is a housing economist with the Halifax and he had this to say:

"There are some tentative signs that homeowners are becoming more reluctant to put their properties on the market which, if continued, will help to relieve the current downward pressure on prices," he said.

"Interest rates are likely to remain very low for an extended period, which will support the improved mortgage affordability position for home owners".

"As a result, we do not expect to see a significant fall in house prices."