House prices have fallen 0.5% this month, the second consecutive monthly decline this year.

Nationwide, the UK’s building society, has reported a fall of 0.5% in UK house prices in December – the second consecutive monthly decline in prices this year.

The research also analysed the average price of housing over the last ten years. House prices have increased 200% since December 1997 until now [December 2007], ranging from around £60,000 to today’s average house price of around £180,000, a figure that is £8,334 higher than last year.

Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, described the changes in house prices: “The annual rate of house price inflation fell to 4.8%, compared to 6.9% in November and 10.5% in December 2006.

“The three-month on three-month rate of growth – a smoother indicator of house price trends – fell from 1.4% in November to 0.9% in December, the lowest since November 2005.”

The company states that the housing market has “weakened significantly” during the last months of the year, and that although lower interest rates look set to help the market activity recover in 2008, the market will probably only be ‘stabilised rather than re-ignited’.