House prices are lower than they were a year ago for the first time since 1996, a property survey revealed today.

Average prices have dropped 1% since April 2007 to £178,555, according to the Nationwide. It is the first time one of the major national surveys has shown a year-on-year drop since the credit crunch began last summer and the clearest signal yet that the decade-long housing boom has been consigned to history.

It follows 133 consecutive months of annual house price growth since March 1996. The news came as a rate-setting member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee gave a stark warning. David Blanchflower - an advocate of early and aggressive rate cutting - said: 'A correction of approximately one-third in house prices does not seem implausible in the UK over a period of two or three years.'

SafeTrade, Local Registered, Approved and Recommended Builders, Plumbers, Electricians, Plasterers, Joiners, Decorators, Roofers and Glaziers etc. Middlesbrough website launch www.safetrade.org.uk/middlesbrough