Property prices keep on falling

House prices fell in nine out of 12 regions between the second and third quarters of this year and were lower than a year ago everywhere apart from Northern Ireland, according to figures published yesterday by the Halifax Building Society.

The province continued to buck the downward trend in the rest of the United Kingdom, recording another quarter-on-quarter increase in prices of 2.9 per cent, taking the yearly rise to 3.1 per cent.

Regional general manager John Donaldson said: "The stable political situation should continue to underpin market and business confidence generally. The factors which have contributed to lack of consumer confidence in the UK ... are not having the same market effect."

The only other two regions to record price rises, both of 0.6 per cent, between the second and third quarters were the West Midlands and East Anglia but prices were still down on a year ago. Regional prices were:

North: average price pounds 48,714, down 2.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter, 4.7 per cent year-on-year;

Yorks/Humberside: pounds 50,535, down 1.1 per cent and 3 per cent;

North-west: pounds 52,415, down 2.4 per cent and 5.3 per cent;

East Midlands: pounds 53,041, down 1.5 per cent and 3.8 per cent;

West Midlands: pounds 61,037, up 0.6 per cent, down 1.8 per cent;

East Anglia: pounds 58,599, up 0.6 per cent, down 2.1 per cent;

Wales: pounds 50,283, down 0.3 per cent and 4.4 per cent;

South-west: pounds 61,323, down 0.2 per cent and 2.2 per cent;

South-east: pounds 77,299, down 0.6 per cent and 0.8 per cent;

Greater London: pounds 77,613, down 1 per cent and 1.2 per cent;

Northern Ireland: pounds 45,250, up 2.9 per cent and 3.1 per cent;

Scotland: pounds 57,459, down 2.2 per cent and 1.4 per cent;

United Kingdom: pounds 61,499, down 1 per cent and 2.6 per cent.