Nationwide: House prices fall 0.8 per cent in November

News Category: Industry News

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New figures from Nationwide indicate that house prices fell by 0.8 per cent in November.

This compares to a 1.1 per cent increase in October, and the annual change was also down to a 6.9 per cent increase, from 9.7 per cent in October.

The average house price in November stood at £184,099, down from £186,044 in October.

Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist, said the data confirmed that the housing market is cooling in line with weakening housing market drivers, including poor affordability, weaker house price growth expectations and recent interest rate increases.

She said the figures were "back in line with the softening trend we have seen in the second half of the year" following surprisingly strong growth in October, and "consistent with our forecast of house price growth of five to eight per cent in 2007".

Nationwide is not expectinga recession in the UK economy, even though it recognises that conditions are likely to be difficult for the housing market next year.

"Furthermore, with interest rates on the way down and the continued issue of undersupply of housing in the UK market, the underlying fundamentals are perhaps more positive than the recent swings in sentiment might suggest," Ms Earley added.

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