Latest News

No sooner does the Nationwide declare that house prices rose by almost one per cent in March than its rival, The Halifax, concludes quite the reverse and reports that average prices fell in March by almost two per cent.  Nevertheless, both indices could be pointing in the same direction.

The Halifax estimates that prices fell by 1.9 per cent last month in marked contrast to the Nationwide.  But then the Halifax reported that prices rose by 2.0 per cent in January when the Nationwide said they were falling.

All we can conclude from that is that individual months are not a good indicator of trends.

Looking at the three months figures, however, both lenders seem to be reporting that the pace of price falls is slowing.  The Halifax says that prices were 2.7 per cent lower at the end of March than they were three months earlier.  But that is much smaller decline that the five to six per cent falls recorded in each of the three previous quarters.

Martin Ellis, the housing economist at the Halifax, said: "Completed sales in England and Wales halved between 2007 and 2008, but there are some very tentative signs that activity may be beginning to stabilise".

Similarly, the Nationwide's latest quarterly report showed that prices fell 4.2 per cent in the last three months, 0.5 per cent better than in the previous three months.

Neither lender is talking about a recovery in the property market, but both are issuing figures that suggest the steep declines in price seen in the second half of last year are moderating.

That was a sentiment echoed by Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist who said: "The HBOS data released this morning demonstrates that it would be premature to assume that house prices have yet bottomed out despite the more positive figures published by Nationwide yesterday. RICS is, however, more confident that the low point in terms of transaction activity has now been seen and that a greater level of buyer interest will be underpinned by the drop in both interest rates and house prices".