Housing takes a tumble

THE economic slowdown is starting to hit the housing market with average prices falling by £28,000 in the last three months of 2008.

And the number of house sales plunged to a seven-year low during the quarter, according to official figures issued today by the States Statistics Unit.

The price of an average home stood at £480,000 at the end of December as compared to the record high figure of £508,000 three months earlier.

In the 12 months from December 2007 until the end of 2008 prices rose by ten per cent. But the number of transactions on which the figures were based dropped to its lowest level since 2002, averaging 20 a month.