December fall of 0.5% sees annual house price inflation dip below 5% according to Nationwide survey

House prices fell for the second month in a row in December according to new figures released by the Nationwide today.

Prices fell by 0.5% in December pegging back annual house price inflation to 4.8% compared to 6.9% in November and 10.5% in December 2006.

Last month house prices fell by 0.8%. Growth over the last three months fell to 0.9%, the lowest since November 2005.

Fiunnuala Earley, Nationwide鈥檚 chief economist, said: 鈥淭he housing market has weakened significantly in the closing months of 2007 after holding up more strongly than expected in the earlier part of the year.鈥�

Nationwide said that the falls were caused by the lack of affordable housing, past increases in interest rates and the volatile financial markets.

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