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Falling house prices return in April
House prices have begun to fall again this month following a brief jump in March, which sparked hopes of an end to the market downturn.
The cost of the average house in the UK fell by 0.4 per cent in April making a dent in the 0.9 per cent increase seen last month, according to a survey by Nationwide building society.
Houses are now on average 15 per cent cheaper than they were this time last year, with the average property costing £151,861.
Some of the measures announced by Alistair Darling in last week's Budget to inject life into the housing market have been welcomed by Nationwide, but it warned that they are unlikely to lead to a swift turnaround.
"While affordability is indeed more favourable and there does seem to be some cautious optimism from some quarters, it is still far too soon to say that this is the start of a solid revival in the market," said Nationwide's chief economist Fionnuala Earley.
Mr Darling announced a number of measures in his 2009 Budget worth a total of £1 billion and including an £80 million cash injection to the HomeBuy Direct shared equity scheme, which helps first-time buyers into affordable home ownership.