House prices up 5.9% in 2009

Despite the 2007-2009 price crash, Nationwide said the noughties had generally been "a very strong decade in terms of house price growth", with prices rising by 117% between Q4 1999 and Q4 2009, the Guardian reports. Nationwide said the average price of a home is now £162,103, up from £153,048 in December last year. Its index showed prices rose by 0.4% in December, the lowest monthly increase since the spring. The lender said the UK property market surprised commentators in 2009 by bouncing back from the previous year's double-digit falls of nearly 16%. As an investment, the figure...