The North's rollercoaster year in the property market is ending with some of the biggest falls in the country, it was claimed yesterday.
New figures show a nationwide 0.8pc drop in prices in December with many buyers negotiating discounts of 7pc and more on asking prices, it is claimed.
In Northumberland, prices fell by 1.2pc - one of the biggest of any county in the country - according to the latest survey by property website Hometrack.
Homeowners in Sunderland also saw one of the largest price drops - 2pc - but Durham was among the best performing cities and towns and with prices remaining static.
Hometrack says the latest figures end a year of mixed fortunes for national house prices, with falls in the second half counter-balancing gains in the first six months. It claims prices have fallen by a cumulative 2.5pc since the summer.
The average national property price now stands at £163,500, down from a peak of £167,700 in June this year, bringing annual house price inflation in 2004 to just 1.3pc.
But last night Neil Foster, managing director of Northumberland estate agents Clark Scott Harden, accused Hometrack of being `doom merchants'. He said: "I would need to see the volume of their sample and the range of prices used before I could agree with their findings.
"Rural Northumberland was one of the last areas to benefit from the rise in house prices and I would say improvements have rolled on throughout 2004.
"The demand for traditional rural properties is relatively unabated. I don't believe we are seeing the fall in prices which this survey suggests."
Richard Sayer, of Northumberland chain Rook Matthews Sayer, said: "A price fall of 2.5pc since July sounds about right to me but that is far from a disaster. Inevitably, there has been a downturn after three years of prices going up and up, and houses probably got to the stage where they were over-priced in June.
"We have incredibly low interest rates and high employment and we are not expecting any massive downturn in 2005."
Hometrack says the gap between supply and demand is continuing to increase, with the number of buyers registered with estate agents falling by 6.5pc and the number of unsold properties increasing by 0.1pc. Houses are now taking an average of 7.5 weeks to sell, although the average number of viewings has slightly decreased to 12.2 from last month's 12.5. People are currently getting an average of 92.9pc of what they ask for, down from 93.1pc in November.
All counties apart from the Isle of Wight reported price falls again this month, the biggest coming in Warwickshire (1.3pc), Bedfordshire (1.3pc), Northumberland (1.2pc) and Hereford & Worcester (1.2pc).
John Wriglesworth, Hometrack's housing economist, said: "2004 has been a rollercoaster year for house prices. The first six months saw continued price rises, before the market turned in July. Since then we have reported an increasing monthly fall, cumulating in a drop of 2.5pc since July.
"I expect prices to continue to fall in the first few months of 2005, by up to 3pc. But again it will be a year of two halves. As the market stabilises, we should see a stronger performance in the last six months, meaning that house prices should finish the year in the same state they started it."
