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(CEP News) - According to the Nationwide Building Society on Thursday, house prices in the UK continued their steady downward trend in August, falling 10.5% compared to twelve months ago.
The consensus forecast had been for a 9.6% annual decline in August after house prices in July declined 8.1% versus one year ago. "Recent activity levels in the housing market have been very subdued. House builders in particular have been reporting significant reductions in site visits and reservations of new properties since this time last year, in spite of a big increase in the use of sales incentives," said Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist. "Reservations of new property began to feel the squeeze before any slowdown was recorded in the official number of house purchase approvals, but the two series have moved closely over recent months." In month-over-month terms, the decline was of 1.9%, against the consensus for a 1.5% contraction, and July's 1.7% decline was revised up to a 1.5% fall. Nationwide also said the seasonally adjusted three-month average showed a 4.5% contraction in August compared to the 4.6% fall reported in July. By Erik Kevin Franco,
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, edited by Nancy Girgis,
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