Thursday 29th May 2008
Property analyst Hometrack has announced its latest house price survey, which offers little comfort to UK homeowners concerned about entering negative equity.
The average valuation reported by the firm has dropped for the eighth month in a row, slipping by half a percentage point in May.
Hometrack explains that its survey incorporates the opinions of estate agents and surveyors across the UK on the price at which each of four property types is currently selling.
These figures are then weighted according to which postcode region they originate from to give an average for the country as a whole.
In May, Hometrack notes a fall in the typical price, as well as a drop in the percentage of the asking price which is being achieved by sellers.
On average, homes are now selling for 92.3 per cent of their valuations - the poorest performance since the survey was first conducted in 2001.
Annually, house prices are down by 1.9 per cent, a full percentage point worse than in April.
The figure represents the greatest year-on-year decline since November 2005, when selling prices dropped by 2.3 per cent.
Richard Donnell, Hometracks director of research, says: "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."
Both of these factors are linked to overall consumer confidence, he adds.
Mr Donnell continues: "The current trends in the survey indicate that pricing looks set to remain under downward pressure over the coming months."
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