Average home price falls £100 a day

The average UK home is losing value at a rate of £100 per day and more than £1 trillion has been wiped off the housing market in the past year, a survey has revealed.

The typical cost of a home in England has fallen to £202,447 from £239,090 since March 2008 - a drop of £110 per day. The average income in England is £73 per day.

In Wales, house prices have dropped by £64 per day in the same 12-month period. Scottish homeowners have seen the slowest decline, with homes north of the border depreciating in value by £42 a day.

The research was carried out by property website zoopla.co.uk. It found that the worst hit area in the country is the affluent central London borough of Kensington where the average house now costs £1.3 million, from £1.5 million last year - a value plunge of £719 per day.

The drops in value, according to the website, which bases its figures on Land Registry information, are helping rejuvenate the flagging housing market. The site now says that it is seeing an average of one search per second - an indication that buyer interest is on the up.

Alex Chesterman, chief executive of zoopla.co.uk, said: "Homeowners have faced a difficult year in the property market and whilst there are not many positive indicators in the economy at present, house prices have fallen to levels where buyer interest in beginning to grow significantly again.

"Providing that buyers gain confidence that the prices declines are slowing and sellers are realistic with their expectations, we are likely to see a recovery in market activity at least in 2009 which in turn will lead to a recovery in prices."

Zoopla.co.uk 's house value findings:

Average house prices by region:
	Mar-09	Mar-08	12m loss	Daily drop
London	£350,279	£423,894	-£73,615	-£202
South East England	£245,817	£303,414	-£57,597	-£158
East of England	£210,031	£254,649	-£44,618	-£122
South West England	£199,877	£239,543	-£39,666	-£109
West Midlands	£161,444	£192,405	-£30,961	-£85
East Midlands	£149,900	£179,642	-£29,742	-£81
Yorkshire and the Humber	£136,188	£162,210	-£26,022	-£71
North West England	£148,894	£172,420	-£23,526	-£64
North East England	£151,611	£174,546	-£22,935	-£63
Source: Zoopla.co.uk
Hardest Hit Counties:
	Mar-09	Mar-08	12m loss	Daily drop
Windsor and Maidenhead	£372,279	£444,250	-£71,971	-£197
Surrey	£310,549	£379,224	-£68,675	-£188
South Gloucestershire	£333,674	£395,886	-£62,212	-£170
Buckinghamshire	£267,106	£324,033	-£56,927	-£156
West Berkshire	£279,235	£331,455	-£52,220	-£143
Hertfordshire	£285,316	£336,469	-£51,153	-£140
West Sussex	£237,480	£287,289	-£49,809	-£136
Oxfordshire	£257,494	£307,103	-£49,609	-£136
Berkshire	£240,404	£286,794	-£46,390	-£127
Bath and NE Somerset	£251,260	£296,413	-£45,153	-£124
Source: Zoopla.co.uk
Hardest Hit Areas (outside London):
	Mar-09	Mar-08	12m loss	Daily drop
Virginia Water, Surrey	£776,945	£921,808	-£144,863	-£397
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire	£695,652	£825,357	-£129,705	-£355
Cobham, Surrey	£649,352	£770,422	-£121,070	-£332
Keston, Kent	£624,072	£740,429	-£116,357	-£319
Chalfont St Giles, Bucks	£622,634	£738,724	-£116,090	-£318
Esher, Surrey	£622,219	£738,231	-£116,012	-£318
Richmond, Surrey	£513,073	£624,918	-£111,845	-£306
Gerrards Cross, Bucks	£562,184	£667,002	-£104,818	-£287
Hartfield, East Sussex	£545,817	£647,584	-£101,767	-£279
Radlett, Hertfordshire	£544,295	£645,776	-£101,481	-£278
Source: Zoopla.co.uk
Hardest Hit London Areas:
	Mar-09	Mar-08	12m loss	Daily drop
W8 (Kensington)	£1,327,132	£1,589,451	-£262,319	-£719
SW7 (Knightsbridge)	£1,082,416	£1,287,301	-£204,885	-£561
SW3 (Chelsea)	£1,104,353	£1,303,835	-£199,482	-£547
SW10 (West Brompton)	£872,022	£1,031,093	-£159,071	-£436
SW13 (Barnes)	£775,703	£924,749	-£149,046	-£408
W11 (Notting Hill, Holland Park)	£940,199	£1,112,986	-£172,787	-£473
W1 (Westminster)	£707,688	£848,590	-£140,902	-£386
SW1 (Belgravia)	£759,562	£887,242	-£127,680	-£350
SW5 (Earl's Court)	£654,197	£761,584	-£107,387	-£294
SW6 (Fulham)	£599,281	£706,276	-£106,995	-£293
Source: Zoopla.co.uk
Bright Spots:
	Mar-09	Mar-08	12m loss	% change
Woodbridge, Suffolk	£246,196	£266,043	-£19,847	7.46%
Hastings, East Sussex	£175,765	£193,676	-£17,911	9.25%
Kidderminster, Worcestershire	£174,697	£193,134	-£18,437	9.55%
Dorchester, Dorset	£248,118	£275,219	-£27,101	9.85%
Shrewsbury, Shropshire	£187,632	£208,169	-£20,537	9.87%
Source: Zoopla.co.uk