House prices fall 5.3 pct in August

LONDON (Reuters) - House prices fell for an 11th straight month in August to stand 5.3 percent lower than a year earlier, a survey by property consultants Hometrack showed on Monday.

That was the biggest annual fall since the survey began in 2001 and compared with a 4.4 percent drop reported in Hometrack's July survey.

The monthly price drop of 0.9 percent was slightly smaller than the previous two months, however. The figures are not adjusted to take seasonal factors into account.

Richard Donnell, Hometrack's director of research, said there were signs falling prices were starting to attract buyer interest but warned it could be some time before the market stabilised.

"We may well start to see a moderation in the rate of monthly price falls. However, with ever growing uncertainty amongst households over the broader economic outlook the current re-pricing of housing still has some way to run," he said.

The survey showed properties were on average taking more than 11 weeks to sell, almost twice the time taken a year ago. The number of viewings to achieve a sale fell for the first time in almost a year.

The proportion of the asking price being achieved fell to 90.7 percent in August, the lowest level since the survey began, from 90.9 in July.