House prices fall by more than 10%, Nationwide says

According to Nationwide, house prices are falling at the fastest annual rate for almost two decades.

The UK's largest building society has released figures that show the price of a typical house has crumbled by 10.5 per cent in the last year.

House prices for August alone are also down by close to two per cent, the figures show.

Commenting on the statistics Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist, said the price of a typical house fell by 1.9 per cent in August, which brought the annual fall into double digits for the first time since the fourth quarter of 1990.

According to Ms Earley, the price of a typical house is now £164,654, or 10.5 per cent less than it was worth at the same time last year.

"While the pace of monthly falls picked up during the month, the less volatile three month on three month measure eased very slightly in August to 4.5 per cent from 4.6 per cent in July," she added.

These valuation falls could lead to be people considering investing in home improvements to keep the value of their property steady.

Research from Abbey has claimed that a loft or basement conversion could add over £13,000 to the value of a home.