U.K. house prices posted their first annual decline in more than two years in April as economic uncertainty and the global credit crisis further reduced activity in the residential property market, housing valuation company Hometrack said Monday.
House prices fell an average 0.6% in April, the seventh consecutive monthly fall, after dipping 0.2% in March, it said. On the year, prices fell 0.9% after rising 0.4% in March, the first drop since February 2006 and the weakest performance since they slumped 1.0% in January 2006.
"While the availability of finance is impacting on demand in certain segments, the reality is that weak confidence is effectively resulting in a buyers strike with households sitting on the sidelines and waiting to see how events unfold," Hometrack Director of Research Richard Donnell said in a statement.
