Housing prices in England and Wales fell 8.7 percent in 2008,
bringing the average price of a house to 159,900 pounds ($235,800),
property consultant Hometrack said in its monthly survey on
Monday.
At 0.9 percent, the pace of monthly decline eased slightly
from November's 1.1 percent drop, although prices have now
fallen consistently over the last 15 months and 9.3 percent
since the start of the credit crunch in August 2007.
British house prices tripled in the 10 years running up to
their peak in the middle of last year, but have since fallen
as much as 15 percent in other surveys as the global financial
crisis has caused the supply of mortgages to dry up.
"Vendors started the year largely unaware that the turmoil
in the U.S. financial markets would impact on the value of
their home," said Richard Donnell, director of research
at Hometrack. "However, as the year progressed and the
full impact of the financial and economic downturn started
to become clearer, so house prices began to fall with the
rate of price declines accelerating over the second half of
the year."
Donnell said the expected turnover rate next year will equate
to the average household moving once every 31 years, double
the average of the last decade.
"The onset of recession and the prospect of rising unemployment
over 2009 will continue to dampen confidence and in turn demand,
which will inevitably lead to further house price falls over
the next 12 months," he said.
