“December saw a further sharp slowdown in annual house price growth to 2.8%, from 4.4% in November. Prices fell by 0.1% month-on-month – a much smaller decline than in the previous couple of months. However, December also marked the fourth consecutive monthly price fall - the worst run since 2008, which left prices 2.5% lower than their August peak (after taking account of seasonal effects). “While financial market conditions have settled, mortgage rates are taking longer to normalise and activity in the housing market has shown few signs of recovery. “It will be hard for the market to regain much momentum in the ... (full story)