December saw a 2.5% fall in prices - the second biggest monthly fall of the year after May, when prices were down 2.6%. The drop follows a 0.4% fall in November, which seemed to suggest the rate of decline was easing.
The snapshot of house prices from the UK's biggest building society showed that by the end of last year the average price of a UK home had fallen by £29,000 to £153,048.
Nationwide's chief economist, Fionnuala Earley, said 2008 had been a "year of turmoil" in the UK housing market.
"The disruption in the financial markets worsened throughout 2008 and had larger implications for the real economy than we anticipated a year ago.
"This time last year we expected the housing market to cool quickly as affordability was poor and economic conditions looked set to weaken, but we did not anticipate the speed of house price falls or the extent of the global and domestic economic slowdown."
More details soon …
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009
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