House prices continue to fall

House prices started 2011 as they finished 2010, according to the latest figures published by the Nationwide Building Society. Prices slipped by a seasonally adjusted 0.1 per cent last month following the December fall of 0.4 per cent. That was, in truth, less than the 0.4 per cent drop that economists had expected but nonetheless continues the downward trend that has been apparent since the middle of last year. It also left house prices down 1.1 per cent compared with the level they reached in January 2010.