Last updated 15:31, Monday, 01 September 2008

THE typical Cumbrian home has fallen in value by £3,432 since the county’s housing market peaked in March, official figures show.

The government’s Land Registry reported that prices fell in July for the fourth month in a row.

The average home is worth £143,033, down 0.3 per cent from £143,501 in June and from £146,465 in March – the highest figure ever recorded.

Despite the recent falls, property values in Cumbria are still 2.3 per cent higher than they were a year ago.

Nationally, the average home dropped in value by 0.6 per cent to £178,364 in July, making it worth 2.0 per cent less than in July 2007. The steepest falls were in Wales and the East Midlands. London is now the only region of England and Wales where prices have risen over the last 12 months.

Nationally, an average of 59,622 homes were sold each month between February and May, down from 99,024 a month in the same period of 2007.

In Cumbria, 2,232 homes were sold between February and May, compared with 3,650 in the same period last year.