More house price falls

A report revealed today that house prices in England and Wales have fallen for the 8th month in a row. The report from Hometrack showed an average fall of 0.5% over May, following a fall of 0.6% in April. Looking at a year on year basis, the annual house price growth rate fell from 0.9% to a drop of 1.9% - the lowest level recorded since Novermber 2005, when a drop of 2.5% was recorded.

Richard Donnell, Hometrack's director of research said: 'What we referred to last month as the 'buyer's strike' continues with a 6.7% drop in the number of buyers registering with agents over May.'

'It is too early to say whether the level of monthly falls will now start to moderate as this will require an improvement in demand and sales agreed which are both linked to overall buyer confidence.'

'The current trends in the survey indicate that pricing looks set to remain under downward pressure over the coming months.'

The report also reveals an increase in the time taken to sell a house. This is now 9.8 weeks, up by 3 weeks over the last year. This follows a repositioning last week by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, who changed their forecast of a 1% growth in property prices to a 7% fall combined with a 35% decrease in property sales this year.