Hometrack’s latest National Housing Survey found that house prices continued to fall in June (-1%). There was also a significant increase in the size of the annual fall (-3.2%), which is the largest yearly fall since September 2005 (-3.5%).

As well as falling house prices the survey also looked at confidence in the market through the numbers of new buyers and the volumes of properties being put up for sale. The numbers of new buyers registered continued to slow (-5.7%) albeit at a slower rate than in May (-6.7%). The volume of properties listed for sale in June were still growing but slowed dramatically (+1.4%) from May’s figure (+3.5%). These figures represent a continued lack of confidence in the property market both by buyers and sellers. As mortgage finance remains difficult to obtain and house prices continue to fall, it appears that those people who would potentially enter the property market are instead watching and waiting to see where the market goes from here.

Hometrack’s figures regarding sales would not be much comfort for those waiting to sell. The survey found that the average amount of time a property is on the market has increased from 9.8 weeks in May to 10.3 weeks in June. When a property is sold the survey found that on average the seller is getting 91.6% of the asking price which is a fall of -0.7% from May.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: “New buyer registrations were down 5.7% in June and have now fallen by 52% since the start of the credit crunch. This drop in volumes was always possible as around half of all transactions in recent years have been driven by non-needs based movers who are now sitting on their hands. The net result is a sizable drop in transaction volumes which look set to reach levels not seen since the 1970s.”