Most recent data produced by a key player in the House Sales UK market show that the drop in House prices slowed reasonably significantly in October. The rate of fall was 0.4%, as compared to 1.3% for the month of September.brbrThe data were published by the Nationwide Building Society, which is one of the key players in the a href=http://www.ukpb.co.uk target=’_blank’House Sales UK/a market. The Nationwide is one of the very few of the old mutual Building Societies to have succeeded in maintaining its mutual society status. Indeed itrsquo;s the ONLY considerable one to survive the craze for demutualization a decade or so ago. Since then it has steered a very conservative course through the more recent craze for buying into the derivatives and U.S. Sub Prime Mortgage markets. The society stubbornly stuck to its core values, and stuck to the old fashioned, and at the time very unfashionable business model, of raising capital by taking deposits from its cash rich customers, and using those funds to lend to its own younger customers who need funding to a href=http://www.ukpb.co.uk target=’_blank’Buy Houses/a.brbrAs a result of this very conservative policy, the Building Societyrsquo;s management now finds itself totally justified for not following the herd instinct of the other big financial institutions. It finds itself in an almost embarrassingly popular position with savers, because they in turn recognise the fact that the societyrsquo;s cautious policies have been vindicated, and theyrsquo;re therefore very much attracted by societyrsquo;s continued mutual status, which makes it very well insulated against the vagaries of the global stock markets. All the above makes the Nationwide a player to watch, listen to amp; respect, as it becomes an even more dominant player in the House Sales UK market.brbrThis slowdown in the rate of drop in House prices can only help to attract more a href=http://www.ukpb.co.uk/introduction.htm target=’_blank’Home Buyers/a back into the market, and so the rate of drop could be slowed even further over the coming months. Keep in mind that House Buyers arenrsquo;t just families looking to Buy Houses to live in. Therersquo;s a large and growing number of families and companies who see Houses as a secure haven for their excess cash. These people and companies have begun to think this way after seeing several famous banks fail. Theyrsquo;ve realised that sizeable deposits owned by private individuals, and all cash owned by limited companies are not protected against Bank failures. Houses, on the other hand, canrsquo;t disappear, even if they can lose some of their value over the short to medium terms.br