More Gloom Over Housing Market
There was more bad news for home owners across the UK yesterday as the Nationwide Building Society published its latest figures for the average price of a house for the month of August.
According to the report, the average price of a house in the UK is now down to £164,654 from £169,316 for the month of July, which is a fall of 1.9 per cent in one month and brings the overall reduction in house prices to 10.5 per cent over the course of the last twelve months, the first time we have seen such a large reduction since 1990.
This news has caused some home owners with high loan to value mortgages or home loans who have purchased a property recently to worry about the potential of negative equity on their home, against the outstanding amount of mortgage loan.
But while the month on month figures show a large drop in prices between July and August, the same comparison over a quarterly period reveals that the rate of slow down seems to be easing slightly, which could be good news for the longer term.
Once again, the main blame for the slow down has been placed on a lack of confidence in the housing market at the present time from potential buyers who are waiting to see what happens with prices, coupled with worries over employment and inflation, along with a general lack of availability of suitable finance through mortgages and home loans.
A spokesman for the Nationwide said that the figures they had received from estate agents were more positive as the level of enquiries had increased slightly from potential buyers who were now looking to take advantage of the currently low prices, although this was not yet feeding through to completions on mortgage loans.
For someone who already owns property and may be concerned about falling prices, there is no need to panic unless you are thinking of selling or taking out a new loan on your home. Over the longer term house prices will increase once more as there is still a great demand for new housing across the country and the current price drop may be just what is needed to re-vitalise the housing and home loan market and make property a realistic and affordable option for those looking to get on the property ladder.
