The latest figures from the UK's largest building society have revealed that house prices in the UK fell by 0.4 percent this month.
UK house prices fell by 0.4 percent during April, according to the latest figures from Nationwide.
The building society had reported a slight (0.9%) rise in house prices during March, which was one of a number of positive reports on the housing market. However, the new data shows that the average cost of a home in the UK now stands at £151,861, 15 percent down on April 2008.
A number of measures were announced in last week's Budget, aimed at helping the property market by boosting mortgage lending and assisting homeowners at risk of falling into arrears. Nationwide welcomed the initiatives, but said that they are unlikely to be able to halt the decline.
"The price of a typical house fell by 0.4 percent in April. This reverses some of the rise seen in March, but is in line with our expectations, given the current economic conditions," said Nationwide chief economist Fionnuala Earley.
However, Ms Earley added that some of the results for April proved to be more positive than in March. "The three-month on three-month rate of change, generally a smoother indicator of the short-term trend in prices, improved to -3.1 percent in April from -4.1 percent in March," she explained.
