Source : The Business Times, January 1, 2009
(LONDON) More bad news for Britain's ailing housing market came out on Tuesday, as government figures showed that house prices in England and Wales fell by 12.2 per cent in November compared to the same month a year ago - the biggest drop since the price survey began in 2000.
Average house prices also fell 1.9 per cent from the previous month, the Land Registry said in its house price survey.
The average home in England and Wales now costs £161,883 (S$337,500), down more than £20,000 compared to November 2007.
The Land Registry said that sales volumes have also fallen dramatically over the past year, with an average of 48,599 house sales going through each month in the June to September period - less than half the average monthly sales volume of 115,697 a year earlier. The registry said that it did not yet have sales volume figures for October and November.
Several recent forecasts suggest that UK house prices will decline even further through next year. Hometrack, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Rightmove plc have all predicted that house prices in Britain would fall by around 10 per cent in 2009.
Two other leading British research groups - Nationwide and the Council of Mortgage Lenders - decided not to publish house price estimates for 2009 because of market volatility. -- AP
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