Hopes of a quick turnround in the UK housing market were dashed on Thursday after two new surveys underscored the continued decline in UK house prices, with the average home now changing hands at prices last seen in 2004.

The Nationwide building society’s house price index showed a 0.4 per cent drop in April, after showing a rise of 0.9 per cent in March amid conflicting signals from other house price indices. Thursday's fall left the price of an average house at 18.4 per cent below the peak in October 2007.