2008 'will see a 5% fall in house prices' - 28/01/2008

House prices will fall by five per cent during 2008, it has been predicted.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Wake Up To Money programme, Ian Stewart, associate director of research at Deloitte, claimed that weakened demand for property will result in the decrease.

"I think a lot will depend on what happens to unemployment, and if we do see sharp rises in unemployment I think that is likely to put downward pressure on prices," Mr Steward explained.

His comments follow data released by property website Hometrack showing that house prices fell for a fourth consecutive month in January.

The average price of buying a home fell by 0.3 per cent, bringing the year-on-year growth rate to +2.3 per cent, the lowest figure since June 2006.

It also found that the average home took around 8.5 weeks to sell, the highest level since the survey began in 2001.

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