UK Treasury: House prices will plummet if Britain leaves EU

LONDON (AP) — British house prices could fall by up to 18 percent if the country leaves the European Union, the Treasury says — a claim dismissed as scaremongering by campaigners for a U.K. exit from the bloc.

British house prices rose 9 percent in the year to March, and the value of property is something of a national obsession — especially in London, where the average home costs 535,000 pounds ($775,000), more than 10 times the average annual household income.