UK house prices are now nearly 15 per cent lower than 12 months ago, according to the Nationwide, with the price of an average house dropping by ￡30,000 to ￡158,872.
　　But when will the house price crash end and how far will prices fall? Should buyers grab a bargain now, or wait another year, or even longer. Times Money asked five experts for their predictions on when the market will hit rock bottom. Here are their answers. And have your say in our poll below.
　　Martin Ellis – chief economist, Halifax
　　Prediction: Another 8% fall
　　“We are predicting a 20 per cent fall over 2008 and 2009 – so as we calculate that prices have already fallen by 12.4 per cent, we would expect roughly another 8 per cent fall before prices start to bottom out at the end of 2009.
　　“There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the economy and unemployment figures in particular at the moment, so it’s very hard to say when prices will start to recover. Prices certainly won’t bounce back quickly.”
　　Jonathan Davis – housepricecrash.co.uk
　　Prediction: Another 35% fall
　　“The market will not bottom out until spring 2011, by which point there will be a 40 to 50 per cent drop from when house prices were at their peak in August last year.
　　“If you remember the last house price crash in 1988, it took until 1994 for the market to recover, so a good four or five years. There is no reason whatsoever to suppose the market will recover any quicker this time.
　　“It is far too early to bag a bargain – people should not be buying for at least another two years. We are only one year into the crash, and it has a long way to go yet.”
　　Yolande Barnes – Savills
　　Prediction: Another 10% fall
　　“We are forecasting a 25 per cent drop from when house prices were at their peak last year, so that means we’ve got about another 10 per cent to go. Whilst we expect prices to bottom out during 2010, the prospect of recession means we do not expect prices to start recovering anytime soon. Houses will not regain their 2007 value until about 2014, or possibly 2013 in the south-east.”
　　Nicholas Leeming – propertyfinder.com
　　Prediction: Another 10% fall
　　“There will be a further drop of about 10 per cent throughout 2009, before the market starts to level out at the end of the year. It will take a while for the effects of the Government bail-out to filter through – the capital markets will not be freed up until maybe the third quarter of 2009, when we can expect to see more mortgage transactions and a gradual recovery of the market.”
　　Nick Bate, UK economist, Merrill Lynch
　　Prediction: Another 10% fall
　　“There will be a 25 per cent drop from the market peak last summer – we have already seen about a 15 per cent drop, so we have about another 10 per cent to go.
　　“However, no one can say with any confidence exactly where prices will be in a year’s time – but it will certainly be a long time before prices recover to the levels we saw last year. With unemployment rising and people becoming less credit worthy, banks may continue to be reluctant to lend for some time, and this will lead to a very muted recovery.”
　　目前英國的房價在全國范圍內比起十二個月前下跌了近15%，一幢平均水平的房子已下降了3萬歐元，降到了158872歐元。
　　但什么時候房價能夠止跌，房價要跌到考(試^*大哪里？購房者是應該現在就出手，還是再等一年或更久？《泰晤士報》財經專欄邀請了五位專家，請他們預測什么時候市場可以見底。以下是他們的答案，你也可以在下面的投票中說說你的看法。
　　馬丁.埃利斯----首席經濟學家，哈利法克斯公司
　　預測：還會降8%
　　“我們預測2008年到2009年會有20%的降幅----按我們的計算，價格已經下降了12.4%，所以粗略估計，到2009年底房價見底前還有8%的降價空間。”
　　“經濟和失業人數的不確定性很大，尤其是現在，所以很難說房價什么時候可以復蘇，但要迅速反彈是決不可能的。”
　　喬納森.戴維斯----“房價沖擊”網站
　　預測：還會降35%
　　“在2011年春季前房價不會見底，房價會從去年八月的最高點下跌40%-50%。”
　　“如果你還記得上一次在1988年的房價下跌，直到1994年市場才恢復，花了四到五年時間。所以這次沒有理由市場會更快恢復。”
　　“現在買房還早得很----購房者至少在今后兩年內都不應該買房。我們的房價才跌了一年，還有很長的路要走。”
　　約蘭德.巴恩斯----戴維斯公司
　　預測：還會降10%
　　“我們預測房價從去年最高點會下跌25%，所以意味著還有10%的跌幅。我們希望房價在2010年間可以見底，但因為對經濟衰退的預期，我們認為房價絕不會很快回升。要到2014年，可能東南部到2013年，房價才能重回2007年的價格。
　　尼古拉斯.里明----“財富發現”網站
　　預測：還會降10%
　　“2009年還會有10%的降幅，但到年考(試^*大底會趨于平穩。政府救市的影響需要一段時間才能顯現----可能在2009年第三季度后資本市場會放開，到時候我們希望可以看到更多的抵押交易和房產市場的逐漸回暖。”
　　尼克.貝特----英國經濟學家，美林公司
　　預測：還會降10%
　　“從去年夏天市場頂點會降25%----我們看到已經降了15%，所以預測還會降10%。”
　　“但是，沒有人能自信地說房價會確切地降到哪個價位上----但能確定的是房價要回到去年的價位上需要很長一段時間。失業人數在增加，人們信貸額度在減少，銀行可能仍然不太愿意把錢貸出去，這些因素都會導致房市復蘇困難。”