Rapidly worsening conditions in the housing market were officially confirmed yesterday by Land Registry figures showing that year-on-year increases in house prices all but ground to a halt last month.

The official figures showed that on a monthly basis house prices in England and Wales fell by a further 1 per cent last month, wiping just over £1,800 off the value of the average home.

The latest steep decline in prices cut their annual pace of increase on Land Registry data to a meagre 0.1 per cent - the lowest rate since its records on monthly price moves began in April 2001. June's price fall came on the heels of a revised 0.6 per cent drop in average home values in the previous month and marked the tenth consecutive month of decline in the market.

The Land Registry data are less bleak than those of rival surveys, led by those from Halifax and the Nationwide Building Society, which already show that house prices have fallen sharply from this time last year. While the Registry's figures have yet to show such year-on-year price falls, this is mainly because its figures are based on the value of homes in completed sales logged with the agency, while the rival surveys gauge prices based on a range of alternative measures, such as mortgage offers, that reflect earlier stages in the home-buying process.

The trends in prices recorded by the Land Registry therefore lag behind other figures, but they reflect the actual values of property that has changed hands. City economists said this meant that the Registry's figures were consistent with the grimmer picture reported by Halifax and Nationwide and that its data almost certainly would reflect this in due course.

The Registry's figures showed that the steepest price falls for June's completed sales came in London, with a drop of 2.5 per cent on the month. Falls of more than 1.5 per cent were reported in Wales.

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