NAEA urges consumers to look locally

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has urged consumers to look to their local markets to get a true reflection of house prices.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, said that the recent Nationwide report, which revealed that the price of a typical house in the UK fell by 1.7 per cent in July, only provides a "national snapshot of the market" which can only tell "part of the story".

Nationwide, the UK's biggest building society, revealed yesterday (July 31st) that the average house price plunged to a three year low of £169,316, which is £15,000 lower in July 2007 and the fastest year-on-year decline since 1991.

However, Mr Bolton King believes that the prices are on average £11,000 higher than just three years ago.

He said: "The report in question started at a period of time when the property market was experiencing phenomenal growth.

"It would have been impossible for the market to sustain the surge in house prices that it had been experiencing in the ‘boom' period."

House Prices News posted on 01/08/2008 14:12:19