By Svenja O’Donnell

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. home sellers lowered asking prices in August by the most in eight months as banks kept up the squeeze on credit, Rightmove Plc said.

The average cost of a home fell 2.2 percent to 222,762 pounds ($367,808) after gaining 0.6 percent in July, the owner of the U.K.’s biggest residential property Web site said today in a statement. Prices in London dropped 3.8 percent.

“In spite of pent-up demand, the market and pricing is boxed in by restrictive lending criteria put in place to ration mortgages given the lack of funds available to lenders,” Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s commercial director, said in the statement.

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on Aug. 12 the world remains in “deep recession” and that banks may need to raise more capital to rebuild their balance sheets. Policy makers this month voted to add 50 billion pounds of newly printed money to its bond-buying program to cement Britain’s recovery from the worst recession in a generation.

The number of new homes on the market was 48 percent below the level preceding the financial crisis, Rightmove said. The price demanded by sellers fell the most in the East Midlands, where it dropped 9 percent.

In London, values in Haringey declined the most, falling 7.6 percent, followed by a 6.4 percent drop in Merton. Prices in the fashionable district of Islington fell 6.1 percent.

Price Outlook

Buyers’ optimism improved, with three-quarters of people moving home saying property prices won’t fall in the next 12 months, Rightmove said.

While data this month have added to evidence Britain’s economy is heading for recovery, rising joblessness may continue to damp people’s ability to buy homes. Unemployment climbed to the highest level in 14 years in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics said on Aug. 12.

Consumers, with record debts of 1.5 trillion pounds, are also struggling with existing mortgage payments. Bradford & Bingley Plc, the biggest lender to U.K. landlords before it was taken over by the government, said last week the proportion of mortgages in arrears more than doubled in the first half.

Most recent reports including Rightmove’s have suggested stabilization in house prices. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said on Aug. 11 that the property market improved in July as the biggest proportion of real-estate agents and surveyors in two years saw increases in home values.

The Bank of England said in its quarterly inflation report last week that a pickup in market activity may have helped support house prices. The recovery “remains fragile,” the central bank said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Svenja O’Donnell in London at sodonnell@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 16, 2009 19:01 EDT

Iniciado por Pasapisero

Que siga la fiesta, pues.

Iniciado por capitan-cavernicola

Perdona, pero los gráficos económicos se me dan muy mal. Podrías decirme que significa ese "punto de no retorno"

but a monthly decline of 2.2 percent this month