Hometrack has revealed that average house prices are 2.5 per cent down on last year.

Hometrack has revealed that average house prices are 2.5 per cent down on last year.

House prices are 2.5 per cent down on a year ago, according to a new survey.

However, Hometrack states that there was no fall in its measure of average house prices, which is based on agreed sales not asking prices, for the first time in 16 months.

The average price of a house in November was £160,700, which is around £7,000 lower than was reported last summer.

"A move to more realistic pricing of property over the last year, combined with the cut in interest rates in August 2005 has resulted in some pent-up demand feeding back into the market over recent months," explained Richard Donnell of Hometrack.

"This has pushed up levels of sales activity but had limited impact on average prices, which are likely to remain unchanged over the next few months."

Hometrack's survey also showed that the amount of time taken to sell a property had risen slightly, up from 7.1 weeks to eight weeks.

In addition, it revealed that November had seen the first fall in the number of properties up for sale in over a year, although there was also a decline in the number of prospective buyers.