House prices fell slightly in December for the fourth month in a row, according to TEAM, the country’s largest multi listing network of independent estate agents.

TEAM’s latest national survey shows that nationwide the average price of homes “under offer” was £188,680 in mid-December compared with £189,649 in November, a fall of just 0.5%. On average, properties are now 5.5% more expensive than 12 months ago.

The survey is based on data supplied by 558 offices of TEAM members in 16 regions across England and Wales. It reflects a daily average of 3,004 homes listed as under offer by agents in the four-week period to mid-December.

Prices in most regions have fallen slightly in the past month, or at best shown little movement. On an annual basis, South Wales continues to lead the way with average prices up by 16% compared with a year ago.

TEAM’s acting national chairman, Jim Turner, commented: “It appears to me that our statistics, if seasonally adjusted, broadly reflect the national trend of a calmer, more sensible market than was evident last year; not altogether a bad thing. Certainly it can only help ease the problems of potential first time buyers, who are the ultimate mainstay of a stable UK property market. Perhaps in the New Year we will see their return, although I expect it would be more with a cautious toe in the water, than a huge mass plunge.”

Jim Atkins, a past president of the National Association of Estate Agents and a TEAM member based in Dorset, said: “The latest figures continue to prove the slowing of the market, although activity is no different than we would expect for this time of year. The overheating has been taken away by the adjustment in prices, removing the “froth" from the top. With continued low interest rates, early in the new year I would expect a healthy but price cautious market to reappear with slow price growth during 2005.”