This is a 21 per cent slump on November's data and on top of a 0.6 per cent easing of December's house prices to bring the average home's value to £215,417.
“Mortgage approvals have been falling since January last year, but this decline accelerated in the second half of the year and was most acute in December," said Ross Bowen, managing director of Connells Survey & Valuation.
"Unsurprisingly there are no signs that December’s base rate cut has provided a catalyst for improvement and we urge the Bank of England to implement the next cut in rates in February to help start the process of restoring confidence to the markets.”
However, Bowen did explain that despite the dip in prices towards the end of 2007 levels were still above those we saw in summer 2007.
Prices are now thought to continue to level off over the next few months before a 'modest' rise again in the second half of 2008.
