UK property prices stumble

Amid a bleak economic outlook UK property prices declined by 0.6 per cent during last month according to data supplied by the Nationwide. The average residential UK property price, according to the Nationwide property price index, now stands at around £165,730 and house prices are now 1.5 per cent lower than this time last year. Experts believe several factors are to blame for the fall in house values including the fall back into recession earlier in the year and the relatively slow revival of the mortgage industry. The largest house price falls have occurred in Northern Ireland with average prices more than 10 per cent down on an annual basis and in the north west of England prices are more than 4 per cent down year on year. Several leading economists agree that that on-going economic conditions are taking their toll on the UK property market and with few signs of recovery on the horizon any growth in the months ahead seems ever unlikely.