House prices in England and Wales fell by 1.9% in November, taking the year-on-year figure to 12.2%, according to figures released by the Land Registry.

The price of an average home fell to £161,883 with just 48,599 sales during the three months to the end of September. This compared with 115,697 the previous year.

The figures are backed up by those released by the Halifax for December, which revealed that prices declined by a further 2.2% taking the average house price to £159,896.

The Halifax survey is based on mortgages that have been approved rather than actual sales, which are the basis for the Land Registry survey.

The Halifax added that house prices were now at the same level seen in August 2004.