According to Hometrack’s May monthly national housing survey, house prices fell for the eighth month in a row during May by a further -0.5%, following a -0.6% drop during April.

The figures also showed that the annual rate of growth in the housing market was down to -1.9% in May from -0.9% last month, which is the lowest level since November 2005 when the rate of growth was at -2.3%.

The survey found that there is an increasing problem with supply and demand within the housing market. The number of houses for sale far outweighs the volume of buyers, creating what Richard Donnell, director of research for Hometrack, describes as a “buyers strike”.

Hometrack also found that the percentage of the asking price achieved at sale has continued to fall. In April, the average percentage of asking price achieved was 93% and in May this fell to 92.3%, - the lowest point since the survey began in 2001. The greatest fall has been in London where over the last year the percentage has fallen from 97.1% to 91.9%.

Although the surveys results are bleak, Donnell does not see this as the market collapsing. He said: “In order to get sizable price falls, a large majority of transactions need to be ‘forced’ sales which are mostly prevalent in periods of rising unemployment and recession. The fall in buyer confidence over the last six months has certainly impacted on transaction volumes but we do not believe that this is a precursor to a major rise in forced sales and large price falls.”