House prices 'fell by 18% in a year'

06/03/2009

More and more homeowners are facing negative equity, with a further decline in house prices.

Halifax's latest monthly survey shows that the value of the typical UK property fell by 2.3 per cent in February.

This means that prices have dropped by 17.7 per cent over the past year.

Despite this gloomy news, Halifax analysis accompanying the data suggested that there were some signs that things were starting to improve in the property market.

The total price decline for the three months to February stands at 3.6 per cent - compared to drops of up to six per cent over previous three-month periods.

This suggests that the property slump is starting to bottom out.

Martin Ellis at Halifax added: "Whilst market activity remains at very low levels, there are some tentative signs that activity may be beginning to stabilise.

"Continuing pressures on incomes, rising unemployment and the negative impact of the dislocation of the financial markets on the availability of mortgage finance are, however, likely to mean that 2009 will be another difficult year for the housing market."

Negative equity occurs when the value of a homeowner's mortgage is more than that of the property itself.

Tags; Housing Debt and Bills, Young Family Finances,

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