House prices fell by 6.3% in December 2012, compared with the previous year, slightly down on the rate of decline recorded in November.

In November, house prices were down 6.8%. Over 2012 as a whole, house prices were 5.9% lower than in 2011, figures from the national statistics office CBS and the land registry show.

The CBS says house prices are now back to the level they were in 2004 and are 16.6% down on August 2008, when they reached their peak.