Building society Nationwide has seen underlying pre-tax profits fall 18% from £394 mln to £322 mln in the 6 months to the end of September. In the same period Nationwide saw lending to home buyers slide almost 17% to £10.9 bln. Graham Beale, the respected chief executive of Nationwide, says the society expects U.K. house prices to continue falling into next year and possibly 2010.