The price of an average home in the UK declined 15% in a year, according to a new survey by Nationwide.

In February house prices fell by an average of 1.8%, the 17th month in a row that average prices have fallen, following 21 successive months of price rises.

This latest decline takes the average price of a house in the UK to below £150,000 for the first time since May 2004 and means that five years of house price increases have been cancelled out in a year.

Despite the fall in house prices the number of new mortgages has not increased as banks and building societies are imposing tougher conditions on lenders, such as deposits of 25%.