Figures from the Land Registry have revealed that the average house price in January was £156,753, down 15.1 percent from a year before.
The average house in England and Wales cost £156,753 in January, down £28,000 - or 15.1 percent - from a year before, a new report has revealed.
According to the Land Registry's figures - seen by many in the property industry to be the most authoritative - January alone saw a 0.8 percent fall. Trends registered by the Land Registry's figures generally lag behind that of lenders such as the Nationwide - which reported a 1.8 percent fall during February this week - because of the way the organisation collects its data.
However, the Land Registry's figures have shown steady falls, in line with the lenders. The new statistic means that the annual rate of change has dropped for the 17th consecutive month - following 21 straight months of increases from December 2005 to August 2007.
Wales suffered the biggest monthly drop out of all regions, with the average house losing 8.8 percent of its price. But the Land Registry stressed that this was largely down to the extremely small number of transactions that took place during January and that rolling average figures - a "more reliable indicator of the underlying trend" - actually showed a one percent drop.
However, its annual fall was 19.7 percent, more than the average for England and Wales as a whole.
