Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Soft Prices

It seems that the UK house market, to use an estate agent's phrase, may be "softening". Asking prices for properties in London have fallen for the first time in a year.

That at least is the view of Rightmove, which said that London asking prices fell by 0.1% in the past month.

Over England and Wales, as a whole, prices rose 0.6% in August, compared with 0.3 per cent in July. The took the annual rate is now 12.8% compared with 10.3% in the previous month.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, was quote in The Times:

"This fall is the first we have seen for some time and is an early warning signal that even the buoyant London economy is susceptible to market forces.

The capital and international status of London means that prices are likely to be more resilient in the longer term, unless the current turmoil in the financial market undermines employment and wealth creation
."

He would of course try to talk the market up, wouldn't he?

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