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UK Rightmove Nov House Price Index -1.6%MM, +1.6%YY

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. house prices fell in November from October, in line with the traditional Christmas slowdown, although on the year they rose at the fastest pace since May last year, a survey showed Monday.

According to Rightmove's latest index, house prices in mid-November fell 1.6% on the month but were 1.6% higher on the year. That compared with a 2.8% monthly increase in October and a 0.2% year-on-year rise.

Rightmove said it was typical seasonal behavior for house prices to fall and activity to slow in the runup to Christmas and the low level of available properties along with improved mortgage availability had failed to change that.

"In all but the most buoyant of markets, home moving comes second to Christmas festivities," said Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove. "While the market has recovered from some dreadful lows, this month's price fall proves that it does not yet have the strength to buck seasonal trends," he said.

The monthly decline is the first since August but is likely a seasonal fall amid a longer term house price recovery, Shipside said, adding that he expects "a tentative recovery in early spring."

As well as falling house prices, the November survey reports continued low volumes of new properties being listed on the property Web site. This lack of turnover in the housing market is also having an impact on the wider economy, Shipside said.

"This poor liquidity is affecting the wider economy as it impairs both workforce mobility and efficient utilization of the housing stock, with many people stuck in homes that are too large, too small, or in the wrong place for their jobs," Rightmove said.

The U.K. economy remains in recession, although, after the disappointing quarterly gross domestic product fall of 0.4% in the third quarter of the year, all signs are now pointing to the first quarterly GDP rise since the first three months of 2008 in the final quarter of this year.

Unemployment is expected to continue to rise, albeit at a reduced pace, which will likely keep the amount of new properties listed for sale at a low level, Shipside said.

The details of the survey show that there is a bigger shortage of new property for sale in the south of England than in the north and accordingly the largest price falls were in the north of England. Prices fell 4.4% on the month in Yorkshire and Humberside while prices also fell 3.8% from October in northwest England.

The only monthly house price rise of 5.1%, however, was in the north of England, the survey showed, while prices fell 3.1% on the month in greater London and 1.6% in southeast England in November from October.

Rightmove also reported that the average number or properties for sales per estate agency was unchanged in October from September at 69 while each property took an average of 83 days to sell in November, just up from 82 days in October.

Rightmove measured 89,140 asking prices of properties put on sale by estate agents between Oct. 11 and Nov. 7.

Web site: http://www.rightmove.co.uk

-By Ilona Billington, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 7 842 9452; ilona.billington@dowjones.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 15, 2009 19:01 ET (00:01 GMT)


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