UK housing market decline 'worst since 1992'
The rate of decline in house prices across Britain is at its most severe since the property slump of the early Nineties, according to a gloomy report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).Surveying its member surveyors, Rics found that 49.1 per cent more reported house price declines than rises in December 2007, the most negative the price balance percentage has been since November 1992, when 60.1 per cent more surveyors reported a fall than a rise.As the property market comes to terms with the credit crunch, Rics also reported that the overall balance of supply and demand last month indicated the loosest market conditions since August 2005."The housing market is clearly feeling the pinch from the credit crunch and the round of interest rate hikes in 2007," said Ian Perry, a spokesman for Rics.He explained that, although sentiment is low, economic conditions are different enough from those of the early Nineties to suggest that supply would have to loosen considerably before prices fall significantly.He did warn, however: "The Bank of England may have to cut rates further if the market is to remain in a stable condition."
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