However Wales, East, North East, West Midlands, and the South East all saw prices increase in May.
The rate of decline is easing in England and Wales, where the annual downward movement of 15.9 per cent in the year to May is less than the 16.2% recorded for the year to April.
Property transactions averaged 31,091 sales per month in the months December 2008 to March 2009. In the same period a year earlier, the average was higher, at 64,674 sales per month.
