Property website Hometrack has reported house prices falling by 8.7% over 2008, with a 0.9% fall over December.

It’s the 15th consecutive month of house price reductions and highlights that prices have fallen by 9.3% since the start of the credit crunch in August 2007.

With homeowners simply choosing not to move, sales volumes have also fallen back – with Hometrack expecting to see a drop in volumes of some 45% in 2008 with sales volumes to decline a further 12% over 2009.

Southern England has seen greatest price falls
Over December prices were down across 63% of the country, a figure that has fluctuated between 50% and 75% over the final half of the year. On a regional basis the greatest price falls have been seen in southern England where supply is most constrained and where prices are sensitive to changes in demand which has fallen off.

In London average house prices have fallen by -10.1% in London over 2008, followed by -9.5% in East Anglia and -9.2% in the South East. However in northern England and Wales prices haven’t fallen from such a high base. In the North East prices have fallen by -6.5%, followed by a -6.6% decline in Yorkshire and Humberside.