2
Aug
July sees 'sharp improvement' in house prices
House prices improved dramatically in July, with the value of a
typical house rising for the third consecutive month, according to
statistics.
Figures from Nationwide showed an increase of 1.3 per cent this
month, with the highest three-month change level since February
2007.
Nationwide chief economist Martin Gahbauer said that even if prices
were to remain unchanged until December, the year-on-year rate
would continue to improve as prices were falling very sharply in
the second half of 2008.
"House prices are still 6.2 per cent lower than 12 months ago, but
this represents another sharp improvement from the 9.3 per cent
year-on-year decline in June," he said.
Mr Gahbauer predicted that there was a "reasonable chance" that
property prices could end the year slightly higher than where they
began.
In related news, optimistic figures recently published by the Land
Registry for the month of June indicated that price falls had begun
to slow in the city of London.
