HOUSE prices in Lancashire have fallen dramatically in the past year, new figures have revealed.

In Blackburn with Darwen prices fell by 6.1 per cent and in the rest of Lancashire prices fell by 2.3 per cent.

That took average prices to £92,474 in Blackburn with Darwen and £131.878 elsewhere in the county.

It is a worse picture across the UK with prices in England and Wales on average falling by 8 per cent in September to prices last seen in autumn 2006, according to the latest figures from Land Registry.

Nationally the average house price is now £168,814 which is also a decrease month-on-month of 2.2 per cent.

The most up-to-date figures available show that during July 2008 the number of completed house sales fell by 57 per cent to 49,784 from 116,751 in July 2007.

In another report the number of homes that were repossessed during the three months to the end of June soared by 71 per cent compared with a year earlier.

The Financial Services Authority said 11,054 homes were repossessed in the three months to the end of June, compared with just 6,476 during the same three months of 2007 across the UK.

The regulator said the number of repossessions had been growing “significantly” since the third quarter of last year, as increasing numbers of homeowners struggled to clear arrears they had built up.