House prices to fall further, states Barclay’s

A senior official from Barclay’s Bank has predicted that house prices will fall further over the course of this year, with a drop of between 10 and 15 percent. John Varley, the chief executive of Barclay’s, said that between 2007 and 2009 the bank had predicted that house prices would fall by a total of 25 to 30 percent. Over the course of the last twelve months property prices have already fallen by over 15 percent.

At the end of the last year Varley stated: “We’re probably about halfway through that period, so in other words we’ve got another 10-15 percent to fall between now and the end of next year.” He said that the economy was likely to contract this year, but that it may get back on track again next year.

Barclay’s has also estimated that unemployment could rise by as much as 7 percent over the course of this year, with the headlines already filled with news about thousands of job losses. Varley stated: “I think an additional 700,000 people unemployed over the course of the next 12 months is certainly possible to contemplate.”

In the meantime Barclays has seen its share prices plummet this week amidst news about thousands of job losses. The bank has announced over four thousand job losses over the past week, and there are now concerns over the finances of the bank, although so far it has not taken any bailout money from the government.