House prices continue to fall

Reporter: Jan Harwood
Date online: 29 June 2009

House prices in Rochdale continued to fall in May but the latest figures show that the rate of decline is easing.

Prices fell by just 0.2% in May, taking the average Rochdale house price to £101,654.

Rochdale experienced the heaviest fall in the country, of 5.1%, in February, which brought the annual fall to 18.5%, but the figures for May show the annual fall is now at 17.8%.

Across the North West there was a decrease in the average property value over the last 12 months of 14.1%, but there was a rise in May of 1%.

Manchester metropolitan district experienced the greatest annual price fall with a movement of 23.8%.

Across the country, the most up-to-date figures available show that during March 2009 the number of completed house sales fell by 43% to 33,161 from 57,929 in March 2008.