According to the Nationwide Index the average price of a house now stands at £150,501 which is 1.3% lower than the £153,048 that it cost in December.
The annual rate of decline now stands at 16.6% which is worse than in December when it stood at 15.9%.
Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s Senior Economist, said: “The price of a typical house fell by a further 1.3% in January, as the deepening economic recession and financial market turbulence continued to weigh on housing market sentiment and activity. January’s decline leaves the average price of a typical house at £150,501, down 16.6% from 12 months ago. The 3-month on 3-month rate of change, a smoother indicator of the short-term trend in prices, improved for the fourth consecutive month from -4.2% in December to -4.0% in January. However, it is too early to say that this marks the start of a sustained improvement in the short term trend.