"Like America we've had an incredible run up of housing prices the last four or five years, and like America there were excesses, including a lot of curious mortgages and speculative activity," Chandler said. "But it appears the boom is over now, if the actual bubble hasn't already burst, and that reality is beginning to affect consumer confidence. There's definitely a more cautious stance toward housing, the economy, and regarding the prospects for growth now, as opposed to six months ago."

Lawson's comments

Further, Chandler said comments former finance minister Nigel Lawson, who served as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's finance minister from 1983 to1989, that the U.K., like the United States, is headed for a recession, also have contributed to U.K. residents' more-modest attitude regarding economic growth prospects, near-term.

"We aren't affected as much by oil price rises, but everything else, job growth, the ability to secure a mortgage . . . they're all affected by the economic downturn," Chandler said. "Lawson's comments have tended to cause people to reassess expectations. People are becoming more cautious regarding major financial decisions, and no one is simply throwing money at housing anymore, and that's beginning to show up in house prices."