Annual house price fall 15%

House prices in the UK fell by 1.4% in October and have dropped by almost 15% in the past year, according to figures from the Nationwide.

The data takes the annual fall rate from 12.4% to 14.6% as the housing market shows little sign of recovering.

"A looming recession and continued financial market instability have uncomfortable implications for the housing and mortgage markets, and will undoubtedly affect the pace of recovery in house prices," said the building society's chief economist Fionnuala Earley.

"However, the speed of the economic slowdown and the determination on the part of central banks to return stability to the financial markets does mean that interest rates are likely to continue to be cut sharply."