House Prices Fall For First Time In Nearly 2 Years

Now’s a great time to look to buy property in the North East, especially if you use the best estate agents Sunderland has to offer, as for families and couples trying to get on the property ladder, there has been some good news for prospective buyers.

Nationwide have announced this week that house prices have fallen by 0.3 per cent in March which is the first fall in 20 months, and the biggest drop within the last 5 years. Across the UK, the average house price now sits at £207,308, although in another report, it was discovered that five million people on a low income are unable to rent or purchase a property.

There is now only one town within the UK that it is possible for someone on lower pay to be able to afford to buy a home said The National Housing Federation, and that the percentage increase had risen by significantly more for house prices between the years of 2004-2016 compared to only a 38 per cent rise in people income across that time.

Elsewhere, across the country, those on smaller salaries end up spending at least 30 per cent of earning towards rent. Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner spoke to BBC News and said that "The South of England continued to see slightly stronger price growth than the North of England, but there was a further narrowing in the differential, Northern Ireland saw a slight pickup in annual house price growth, while conditions remained relatively subdued in Scotland and Wales."

Overall this fall in property prices offer hope to new homeowners, but there’s still a long way to go to make the market open to everybody.