House prices fell 2.5% in May, the largest decline since the
Nationwide monthly index began in January 1991. On the year,
prices fell 4.4%, the biggest drop on an annualized basis
since December 1992. That compares with a revised drop of
0.9% on the month and an unrevised 1.0% decline on the year
in April. Last month Nationwide reported a 1.1% drop on the
month for April. The declines in prices in May were also
much bigger than the market consensus estimate of a drop of
0.6% on the month and 1.9% on the year from a Dow Jones
Newswires survey of economists last week. "The pace of
house price falls accelerated in May as more weak economic
news added to the gathering momentum of negative sentiment
about the housing market," Nationwide Chief Economist
Fionnuala Earley said in a statement.
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