Nationwide. 29 May 2008. -2.5 (month) -4.4 (year)

poppy10_2

phil_b wrote: »

Do the figures distinguish between areas and type of house at all? Or is it just simply a complete average?

I just wonder if the 'average' home has actually dropped by that amount, or whether the big non-average homes have dropped considerably pulling the average down.

They mix-adjust their prices, so that this won't happen.

See
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/method_qs.htm

"The whole point of mix adjusting prices is to remove any bias that the Nationwide mortgage data may exhibit whether that be the type of property we lent on or its location or indeed any one of the other characteristics we use to identify our representative house"

mitchaa

phil_b wrote: »

I just wonder if the 'average' home has actually dropped by that amount, or whether the big non-average homes have dropped considerably pulling the average down.

I.E, you have 5 houses, 4 of which cost £180k, and one of which costs 500k. The 180k houses drop to £179k (0.5%) and the £500k house drops to £420k (16%).
The overall average drop is pretty huge, but it wont be of any benefit for 'mr average'.

Hit the nail on the head i think. A £900k 1 bed fulham flat sells for £650k then thats going to have a huge impact. I believe London falls are skewing the figures.

But im no expert, just another person with an opinion.

Oops above post, but i would still say London has a massive effect on the market.

merlinthehappypig

Hopefully estate agents will now start to get a little tougher with those sellers who have had the house up for sale for a year or so and haven't reduced the price.

If they want to sell then they need to make the price more realistic - if they don't then get them off the books and stop wasting everyone's time.

Trollfever

Daily Express headlines:

Early Easter and bad weather means slight dip in house price increases.

merlinthehappypig

Trollfever wrote: »

Daily Express headlines:

Early Easter and bad weather means slight dip in house price increases.

No, the Express don't do 'falls' or 'dips'.

Last week it was 'an increase in the annual rate of growth decline'.:rotfl:

WTF?_2

What a shame that the debt taken on to buy the house doesn't fall in tandem with the likely selling price of the house, eh?

As Merv said, debt is real whereas house prices are a matter of opinion.

And the rocketing cost of food and fuel (and soon, just about everything as the oil price rises filter through to the general economy) certainly isn't making it any easier to service that non-shrinking debt.

MrDT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7424309.stm

#1 in both the 'most read' and 'most emailed' article listings.

Sentiment just took a nosedive

MissMoneypenny

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

True, and the fact that there is way more personal unsecured debt than there was in the 80's/90's as well.

That's going to be the killer this time around imo. Plus the north has had huge price increases this time, so they won't be immune.

King_Of_Fools

carolt wrote: »

Anyone got the 'real' figures rather than just rolling 3 monthly figures they use? I seem to recall last month's 'real' figure was actually 4.something % fall - so interested to see how the undoctored figures look.

That was the Halifax that did that to smooth out the volatility.

carolt wrote: »

On their press release, highest figures at peak were £184,723 in Sept 07 - now they're 173,583. Seems like more than 4.4% to me - anyone handy with a calculator for quick peak-present falls?

Yes but the 4.4% fall quoted is May 07 to May 08.

carolt

I know that - I'd just be interested to see what the peak - to current trough figures are. As well as the annual figures.