House prices continue to fall

House prices in Rochdale continued to fall in May but the latest figures show that the rate of decline is easing.

Prices fell by just 0.2% in May, taking the average Rochdale house price to £101,654.

Rochdale experienced the heaviest fall in the country, of 5.1%, in February, which brought the annual fall to 18.5%, but the figures for May show the annual fall is now at 17.8%.

Across the North West there was a decrease in the average property value over the last 12 months of 14.1%, but there was a rise in May of 1%.

Manchester metropolitan district experienced the greatest annual price fall with a movement of 23.8%.

Across the country, the most up-to-date figures available show that during March 2009 the number of completed house sales fell by 43% to 33,161 from 57,929 in March 2008.