Halifax has published its monthly house price index showing a 2.2% fall in the average cost of a UK home, in October.The decline takes the annual fall to 13.7%, and brings the average cost of a home back to its October 2005 level of £168,031.The lender’s chief economist, Martin Ellis, comments that significant pressures on [...]

More: House prices down 2.2% in October

...and what a buyers market it really is becoming.

This can potentially be very bad news for anyone who took out a 100% mortgage in the last few years as they are possibly in a negative equity situation.

This is only bad news if that person is looking to sell.

For the buyer, however, this is great news! - You can now have a house that was £180K 4 years ago for around £160K.

This is a great time for first time buyers!

Mortgage approvals dropped again in October, suggesting that house sales and prices have further to fall.
Bank of England figures show that just 32,000 mortgages were approved, 1,000 fewer than in the previous month.
The number of mortgages approved, but not yet lent, is a good indicator of medium-term trends in lending.
The UK housing market has already seen prices fall by between 10% and 15% in the past year, with sales down by more than half.
"An extremely weak set of Bank of England mortgage approvals and lending data suggest that house prices still have a long way to fall," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight. "Housing market activity is exceptionally low compared to long-term norms."

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has guaranteed not to repossess the properties of customers who fall behind on payments for at least six months.
The bank, which owns NatWest, is Britain's fifth largest mortgage lender with a 7% market share.
The government has bought a 58% stake in RBS as part of its recapitalisation plan for the banking sector.
The announcement will put pressure on the biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, which has also taken taxpayer cash.
RBS also said it would make sure customers had the opportunity to seek independent advice before starting any legal action. "We fully understand that one of the biggest worries facing homeowners in financial difficulty is the thought of losing their home, and this is especially true given the current economic climate," RBS managing director of retail banking, Craig Donaldson, said in a statement.

Not really good news for buyers either - alot of landlords are using that frame of mind, buying a load of houses and getting themselves into negative equity!