By Julian Whittle

Last updated at 11:49, Saturday, 02 March 2013

House prices in Cumbria fell again in January, official figures show.

The Land Registry says prices dropped by 0.8 per cent and are 2.4 per cent lower than a year ago.

The county average was £121,045, down from £122,052 in December and from £123,976 in January 2012.

Values have tumbled by 15.5 per cent since the height of the property boom.

In late 2007 and early 2008, the typical Cumbrian home sold for £143,000 – £22,000 more than today.

Prices are back at a level last seen in the summer of 2005.

The number of homes changing hands continues to fall too.

An average of 501 were sold each month between September and November last year, compared with 555 a month in the same period of 2011.

Peter Hayward, of Carlisle estate agent Hayward Tod Associates, says the key to selling your home is being realistic about what it is worth.

He said: “There is more property coming to the market and there is no shortage of enquiries from buyers.

“There is no lack of appetite for property. The reason more aren’t selling is that some vendors won’t accept what people are offering them.

“It’s not a question of under selling, it’s selling at a price the market will stand.

“I know it’s a cliché but a property is worth what somebody is prepared to pay.”

Nationally, the Land Registry says, house prices increased by 1.0 per cent in December.

The typical home in England and Wales sold for £162,441, 1.0 per cent more than a year ago.

However, the national average masks a sharp north-south divide. Prices rose by 7.1 per cent year-on-year in London but fell across much of northern England. The steepest fall, 4.2 per cent, was in the north west.

A typical home in London sells for £373,207 – more than three times the Cumbrian figure.

First published at 11:20, Saturday, 02 March 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk