House prices continued to decline last month and are now lower than a year ago across all regions of England and Wales, according to a survey that offers little hope of the market improving.

Prices fell by 0.9 per cent between May and June, after the steep 2.5 per cent drop of the previous month, the lender Nationwide said yesterday. Its index shows that eight straight months of decline have left prices 6.3 per cent lower than in June 2007 - the biggest annual fall since the early 1990s.