Prices of homes still falling

House prices fell by 0.7 per cent in August, according to the Halifax Building Society's monthly price index. It followed a 0.4 per cent fall in July.

It was the second set of gloomy figures released this week. On Tuesday, the Nationwide Building Society reported that prices had dropped 0.2 per cent last month. While the societies' figures do not match exactly, they both show that there is no sign of any recovery in the market.

A Halifax spokesman said: 'Unless the economy generally starts to show signs of recovery, or interest rates fall significantly, no upturn in the housing market is likely during the current year and any recovery during 1993 will be muted.'

The society's seasonally-adjusted figures show prices fell 0.3 per cent last month, against a seasonally adjusted fall of 0.2 per cent in July.