House prices fall in most regions during the third quarter

The third quarter of 2010 saw house prices fall in nine out of 13 UK regions, according to the Nationwide House Price Index. For the UK as a whole, prices fell by 1.0% in the quarter, leading to a fall in the annual growth rate from 9.5% to 4.5%.

Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: "Surprisingly, the region that performed best during the third quarter was Northern Ireland, with prices rising by a seasonally adjusted 1.6%. However, this increase was not enough to offset the declines of previous periods, so that the annual rate of house price falls actually accelerated from 5.2% to 11.1%.

"Scotland was the worst performing region in the third quarter, with a 3.4% quarter-on-quarter fall, pushing the annual rate of change into negative territory. Prices were down 0.6% year-on-year compared with Q3 2009.

"London continued to outperform, maintaining its position as the top performing region on an annual basis. Annual house price growth in the capital was 9.2% in the third quarter, a slight softening from 13.2% in the previous quarter. London saw its sixth consecutive quarterly rise in prices, with a 0.4% increase recorded in the third quarter.

"Continuing the trend seen so far this year, the northern and midland regions generally saw weaker price growth than the southern regions. Yorkshire & Humberside saw the weakest performance out of the English regions, with a quarterly fall of 2.7%. The North remained the weakest region on an annual basis, with prices up 1.0% year-on-year. The Outer Metropolitan was the best performing English region in the quarter, with a 0.7% quarter-on-quarter increase.

"The quarterly price change in Wales was similar to the rest of the UK, with a 1.2% fall in the quarter. This resulted in a slowing in annual house price growth from 4.7% to 2.9%."