House prices 10 percent lower than a year ago

Property data company Hometrack, who have been running a monthly survey for over 8 years, has found that house prices in England and Wales fell by 0.8 percent in January and are currently 10 percent lower than this time last year.

The Hometrack survey is based on estate agents’ and surveyors’ estimates and when compared to mortgage lenders’ data, such as those complied by Nationwide, it shows much lower falls as Nationwide reported a 17.6 percent annual fall in January – 7.6 percent higher than the Hometrack survey has reported.

Compared to last year the number of sales agreed are down by 60 percent as a result of a heightened fear of unemployment as well as a severe fall in the availability of mortgages.

It is an even tougher environment for first time buyers who typically have smaller deposits, while those already on the property ladder have been put off making any leap that results in a bigger financial investment.

In the current market Richard Donnell, Hometrack’s director of research, said that it is not surprising that the majority of homeowners are unwilling to move, especially since the prospect of further house price falls loom large.

On average, houses are taking 12 weeks to sell and achieving 88.3 percent of their initial asking price.

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