Rics: House prices fall further

House prices in the UK are falling at a rate not seen for 15 years, according to the latest survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

[ClickPress, Wed Jan 23 2008] The number of the organisation's members reporting house price drops is the highest it has been since the housing slump of the early 90s.

Some 49.1 per cent of surveyors said property prices were falling, the largest proportion since November 1992 when the figure was 60.1 per cent.

According to Rics, this decline in prices is the result of the credit crunch and the impact of ongoing economic uncertainty on confidence.

"The housing market is clearly feeling the pinch from the credit crunch and the round of interest rate hikes in 2007," said Rics spokesperson Ian Perry.

While he argued that economic conditions are "vastly different" to those in the 90s, Mr Perry added that "the coming months will be of great importance to the market" and suggested the Bank of England cut interest rates to promote stability.

A report from Moneysupermarket revealed, meanwhile, that the average cost of a mortgage is higher than it was a month ago, despite December's interest rate cut.

Fast property sale expert Julian King adds, "A rate cut is unlikely when inflation is so strong. For those exiting their current fixed-rate mortgage deals, they will find the jump in mortgage payments too difficult to manage.

"Our City analysts are predicting repossessions to hit around 45,000 by the end of the year and the homeowner must act quickly to ensure they ar enot part of that statistic.

"National Homebuyers completes on many quick house sales each week and homeowners in distress without wanting to move should consider a Sell and Rent Back equity release option".

Mr King is a director of National Homebuyers, the UK's leading fast property sale firm, guaranteeing to make a formal cash offer to purchase any property in the UK.

Bookmark this release: Del.icio.us - Digg - Furl - Blinklist - Reddit