House prices have fallen consecutively for the last 16 months, and on a year-on-year basis are down 2.3%, according to Hometrack’s latest monthly national housing survey.
Demand has fallen for the last four months in a row but there has been no significant acceleration in price falls, Hometrack said. This is at odds with consumer confidence which has fallen considerably over the same period.
The average time on the market rose slightly to 9.9 weeks while the proportion of the asking price achieved remained relatively unchanged at 92.5%.
Across the country falls were registered in 32% of postcodes. The greatest pressure is in the South West, East Midlands, Wales and North West where prices fell by over 0.3% over November.
In London prices remain unchanged for the second month in a row but looking head Hometrack said it is unlikely that London will escape the impact of the continued turmoil in the financial markets. When prices start to fall in the capital so the scale of headline price falls will start to accelerate.
Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: “The economic and financial backdrop to the UK housing market remains far from positive but over the last three years the sector has adapted to an environment where low turnover and constrained finance have become the norm.
