Global house prices fall

House prices around the world fell for the first time in record during the last three months, falling an average of 0.3 per cent compared with the previous quarter. Britain was one of the worst performing of the 44 countries listed, recording falls of 4.6 per cent during the quarter, along with Latvia (6.2 per cent down), Norway (4.5 per cent) and Canada which had a drop of 4.9 per cent. More than half the countries in the index showed quarterly prices falls, with one third now also showing annual price drops.