House prices fall | Winston Solicitors Skip to main content
Legal news

House prices fall

Jonathan Winston Jonathan Winston
2 min read

The housing market still shows no sign of long-term recovery with house prices falling last month.

The latest Nationwide survey shows that British property prices fell by 0.9% in August and, following on from a 0.5% drop in July, it represents the first time that prices have fallen for two consecutive months since February 2009.

The news comes just days after economists warned that the housing market could be heading for a double dip with thousands still stranded in negative equity after buying their property at the height of the boom in 2007. The Nationwide warns that unless prices recover substantially in September, the quarterly growth rate is likely to turn negative next month.

Martin Gahbauer, chief economist at Nationwide said: “Recent market trends remain consistent with an unwinding of the supply-demand imbalance that drove up prices for much of last year.” He added that since the rise in prices of last year were ahead of the recovery in the wider economy, “the current correction is not an unhealthy development”.

Economists are unsure how far house prices will fall with some expecting just a 3% to 5% drop though others predict a 25% drop before the end of 2012. Nationwide says in its latest figures that the average home in the UK currently costs £169,347.

More Winston Solicitors news

Client feedback

We couldn’t recommend Samantha Robertson-Strong enough. She made the whole process of buying our first property so much easier and would recommend her to people I know.Thanks Again Samantha and the Winstons team!
Mr Atherton
Joe and Amr were good at keeping contact and answering my questions as a first time buyer. The solicitor on the other side of the purchase was not always responsive, though Joe/Amr made sure to keep chasing which I appreciated. Overall smooth process and would recommend.
Amber
Absolutely incredible! Exceeded all expectations, very professional.
Michael
It is probably 45+ years since I last bought a house so it was a real re-learning process. Michelle was helpful and pateint throughout. She kept me fully informed of the prgress being made and all the responses from her enquiries to the other party were detailed. Both sides were under pressure to complete before April when further tax increases loomed. It was also the pressure that I would be heading to France to oversee the sale of my property. The only 'blip' that I saw was the query of my funding. It was simply the transfer of the funds from the sale of my home in France to cover the sale in Leeds. This was accepted. I had requested Sterling and not Euros and perhaps that did raise an eyebrow or two. I would have no rpblem in recommending Winstons.
Roger
Outstanding from start to finish. Leasa was fabulous, professional and thorough throughout. Would highly recommend to anyone. We honestly cannot Thankyou enough for getting us into our family home.
Natalie
Winston solicitors are experts at what they do. They go above and beyond the normal service to provide you with the best interest for you. I cannot thank Emily for her commitment and resilience on answering every question i had asked. She is a great assest ti Winston solicitors and a credit to her team. I would love to work with Emily again in the furture if required to do so. Would not hesiste to reccommend winston solicitors to everyone.
Ishtiaq
Amazing service from Sidraa with support from Tom. Timely communication, easy to deal with and thorough. Sidraa went over and above to meet our deadlines and was so personable to deal with. Would 100% recommend.
Sophie
Both Samantha and Michelle at Winstons Solicitors have been brilliant keeping us informed with the selling and buying of our houses. If there were any problems they explained what was happening and also put our minds at rest.... as moving is stressful enough.will definitley use again in the future as we were impressed with the company and service.
Craig
Contact Jonathan