A recent report reveals that house prices have taken their worst battering since records began. The study showed that prices are falling at the fastest pace for 30 years. It painted a picture of lower prices, few buyers and desperate sellers - with worse to come. The pessimism displayed by the estate agents and surveyors polled by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors help make its monthly report the bleakest since they began in 1978.

They say house prices are falling in every region of England and Wales, with the majority falling at their fastest pace since the record started. The North, Yorkshire and Humberside, East Midlands, West Midlands, East Anglia, the South East, the South West and Wales are all on the black list.

But the East Midlands is experiencing the worst problems. Prices have been falling for the last 15 months. The speed of the decline is picking up, with prices falling at the 'fastest pace in the survey's history' last month.

Pessimistic estate agents and surveyors have predicted prices will fall 30% over the next three years. Another warned the situation is going to worsen, as the mortgage meltdown has only just started to take effect. 'With the effects of tighter lending criteria still to be felt, we may not have reached the bottom.'

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