Seems like the buyer has finally realised he has far more power in the market than he thought. Stop paying ludicrous asking prices and those prices will soon fall.
I could do with a new home and could afford it right now but am holding out becasue I CAN. Stop the greed. don't borrow to feed it.

Chris, Preston, UK

Fionnuala Earley should stop embarrassing herself with stupid statements. It's a little soon to talk of a "recovery in house prices" . Why do the press bother quoting someone who couldn't have called this situation more wrong? Last year she was all over the news saying house prices would not drop.

Edward, London,

Nationwide is one of the lenders who are yet to pass on a penny of the last 0.5% bank interest rate cut to their borrowers. Whilst it costs so much to borrow for those without large deposits, prices will continue to drop.

Nigel, London,

This is just a correction back to normality from the bubble prices. This is not doom and gloom just reality. VI Fiona is still talking about recovery. Recovery to what, bubble prices?

david b, eastbourne,

Come on peeps, this is far from Doom and Gloom, we all know that things operate in cycles. The decline in the property market is the best thing for everyone concerned it has to go down for it to go up again. Stop worrying about the small irrelevant points - focus on the end result!

Neil, Harrow, UK

There needs to be some correction in house prices anyway, it is near on impossible to get on the property ladder for first time buyers so its about time the prices became realistic and actually reflect demand.

Adam Naylor, Sheffield, UK

These statistics are quite worrying. "since comparable records began in 1991". As 1991 was close to the bottom of the slump, what value is this comparison? In the early 1990s there was widespread negative equity. How does that compare with today?

BobJ, London,

The UK housing market is also vastly distorted by our draconian planning laws and petty council interference in the system. One acre of average east anglian farm land is worth around £4000. Get planning permmissin and it becomes worth £250,000. Corruption in the UK local government? Surely not!

paul, Norwich,

Yet again we have to hear that the fall is the lowest since records began, didnt they say that last month? .... and the month before that? why do the media insist on talking us into Doom and Gloom will they not stand up and take some responsibility for causing this dispear and lack of confidence?

Ryan, Spalding,

Many mentaly counted the 20K annual rise as an "Income" which could be borrowed against using credit cards or a car loan - so lifestyles well beyond means. Sympathy? None, less for the buy to let brigade. You speculate you take the risk! Only sorry for the poor & less informed who just wanted a home

Charles, Godalming, UK

"Will affect the pace of recovery for house prices" We still don't get it do we...This is the recovery in house prices. they were so over inflated that banks lend money to people with no formal agreement about how it will actualy be paid back

Tom, London,

Very good. There are people in UK who owns 700 homes, while many youngsters struggle to get a one bedroom flat. Such greed must end. Govt must tax anyone who owns more than one house. People must start living in their house, rather than speculating

Samtho, Slough,

The income to house value ratio simply has to be restored. In 1997, ave income £20k, ave house price £75k. In 2008 ave income £30k, ave house price down to £160k. In 1997 we were not in recession. In 2008 we are. You can do the maths, expect another 30% drop as a minimum.

steve, colchester, essex

From the U.S. in case anyone cares. Our real estate prices rode an unprecedented high for a short period of time until the "bubble" burst. Our RE prices have dropped 35% and continue to drop - we are now paying a huge segment of foreign investors large sums of money to make-up for our greed...

John Mills, Vancouver, USA

Not much is going right in the UK at the moment. House prices down the toilet, and the sterling becoming the peso of Europe. It really looks as the UK once again is the "sick man of Europe".

Bob, London, UK

It's not just the general housing prices that are overvalued - it's also land prices in general, which is a result of the UK being overcrowded when viewed as number of population per square mile.

Garry, Chiang Mai, Thailand

At £159k they're overvalued, still 5x average wage! Lowering interest rates to 2.5% is only going to reinflate the property bubble, benefit those few with mortgages, there are more savers who will be punished. Reduce Business taxes and allow the housing market to level out with a sensible I-rate!

Paul, Camberley,

but lets put this in context ... house prices could fall another 30% in the uk and still be vastly overpriced !

andy, Lyon, France