House prices down but consumer confidence may be on the up

But, it says, house sales have shown a marked improvement. Despite the number of buyers registering with estate agents remaining static last month (-0.5% change in August’s survey), activity has increased by 5.5% compared to 4.1% in August’s survey. The national average house price now stands at £160,900, down from a peak of £167,700 in June 2004 and down over 3.7% in the past 12 months. As more transactions are occurring in the market, this suggests that buyer confidence is improving. But, while the number of buyers registered has increased by over 20% since the beginning of the year, ...