LONDON, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- House prices in England and Wales fell by 13.5 percent in 2008, according to one of the most authoritative market guides in the country on Thursday.
The average house price fell by 2 percent in December over November to 158,846 pounds (about 227,150 U.S. dollars), the Land Registry's figure showed.
The Land Registry figures are based on sales completions and so lag behind those supplied by mortgage lenders.
The most up-to-date figures from the Registry revealed that in October, the number of completed house sales in England and Wales fell to 41,123, down 60 percent from 102,597 in October 2007.
In London, only 4,604 home sales were materialized, compared with 13,354 in the same month a year before.
However, Nationwide, which uses prices agreed by its mortgage customers, put the average house cost at 150,501 pounds (215,229 U.S. dollars), down from 153,048 pounds a month ago and 35,543 pounds (about 50,826 US dollars) below the peak of October 2007.
Nationwide said the rate of price falls in January had eased slightly when compared with December's 2.5 percent slide, which took the annual rate of fall in house prices to 16.6 percent, from15.9 percent in December.
Nationwide said the housing market was unlikely to improve until the economy stopped shrinking, with continued restrictions of credit reducing the amount of people taking out mortgages.
The UK economy is now deemed to be in recession having recorded two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
The Bank of England has been cutting the base rate sharply in recent months in an effort to stimulate the economy.
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