House asking prices in England and Wales have fallen for the second month running and are now lower than a year ago, a report has said.
The average asking price for a home dropped 2.1% in August to £231,543 according to property website Rightmove, a fall that follows a 1.6% drop in July.
All regions registered a fall except Wales and Yorkshire and Humberside, which saw modest rises.
London, which has been the strongest regional housing market this year, saw the largest month-on-month fall at 3.4%.
Overall asking prices are now 0.3% lower than a year ago, the first time they have fallen on an annual basis since September 2009.
Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: "We're in limbo land", adding that in many parts of the country activity is limited to "sellers who are willing to price aggressively below the competition and who can afford to do deals".
But he added that the fact prices are only 4.1% lower than four years ago, when Northern Rock collapsed, underlines the market's stability and the "uneasy balance" between buyers and sellers at present.
The number of houses on the estate agents' books rose again to 79 on average, even though the supply of new sellers remains muted.
Mr Shipside said the renewed turmoil in global financial markets may be starting to hit home with London buyers who have so far been insulated from the worst of the downturn.
Average asking prices in London fell from £432,641 to £418,008 with all 32 London boroughs including prime areas of west London seeing a dip. The number of properties coming to market in London also fell by 9% from last month and by 18% from August 2010.
