House prices fall for '12th month in a row'

October saw house prices in the UK fall for the 12th consecutive month, according to Nationwide.

The price of the average house is down 14.6 per cent from this time last year and fell by 1.4 per cent in October.

A typical house in the UK is now worth £158,872, which is close to £30,000 less than a year ago.

However, to add some form of context and balance to the data, this is still almost £30,000 more than five years ago.

Commenting on the data Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "A looming recession and continued financial market instability have uncomfortable implications for the housing and mortgage markets, and will undoubtedly affect the pace of recovery in house prices."

Nationwide is predicting that the rate reduction in October will not be the last of the year and is forecasting a cut by at least 50 basis points during the remainder of 2008.

Meanwhile, Bank of England member Danny Blanchlower has admitted that the Monetary Policy Committee has not been "sufficiently forward looking".