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• House prices fell by 1.7% in April, says Halifax
• Year-on-year decline is 17.7%
The average house price has fallen to £154,716, the level it was at five years ago, according to the Halifax house price index.
The lender said average property prices fell by 1.7% during April, a drop of 17.7% over the past year, with further falls expected. The monthly decline is slightly less than the 1.9% fall seen in March.
Halifax's housing economist, Martin Ellis, said: "Rising unemployment, low consumer confidence and the reduced availability of credit are all expected to exert downward pressure on the housing market over the next few months. As a result, further house price declines are likely."
The lender said the cost of repaying mortgages had eased in recent months thanks to a series of cuts in the base rate, now at a historic low of 0.5%.
According to the Bank of England, average mortgage interest rates have fallen from 5.82% in October last year to 3.83% in March. As a result, a borrower with a typical mortgage of £107,000 will now be paying £111 less in October.
However, strict lending criteria means that securing a mortgage continues to be difficult for would-be buyers. The number of approvals for mortgages reached 39,230 in March, the highest level since last May but 34% lower than in March 2008.
Halifax said the chancellor's decision to keep the lowest stamp duty threshold at £175,000 until the end of the year had helped around 45,500 buyers in England and Wales.
More than a quarter of all homebuyers were exempt from the tax in the five months between September 2008 and January 2009 because the threshold had been increased from £125,000 to £175,000.
Buyers in the north of England benefitted most, with 79% of all property sales coming in beneath the threshold compared with only 18% in London.
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