Realism in the housing market could see the recent slump in sales bottom out, despite a continued fall in sales during November, a property group has said.

The harsh conditions have weeded out speculators to leave only those buyers able to access finance along with needs-based sellers who have become more realistic on pricing, according to property intelligence group Hometrack.

The cost of a home in England and Wales dropped by 1.1% during the month, to an average price of £161,400. Hometrack said the annual rate of decline continued to increase to reach 8.1%, up from 7.3% in October.

Overall, house prices fell across 70% of postcode districts, although this was a slight improvement on the previous month when values dropped in 74% of areas.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: "All of the indicators from the latest survey point to a continued fall in property prices in the short term.

"A weak economic outlook and limited availability of mortgages are set to keep prices under downward pressure in 2009."

But he said the market had now been stripped back to the bare bones, and a levelling out could soon be observed.

The group said this realism was reflected in a continued fall in the percentage of their original asking price that homeowners were achieving, with this dropping to 88.9% during the month, although the rate at which it is falling has begun to slow.

At the same time the number of viewings needed to sell a property has fallen from a recent high of 15 in July to 13.5 in November, while the average time a property takes to sell has dropped slightly to 11.8 weeks from 11.9 weeks.

But the number of new sales agreed remained broadly static during the month, and there was a further fall in new buyers registering with estate agents.

Mr Donnell said: "The real problem for the housing market remains on the demand side.

"The constrained availability of finance, particularly for those looking to move home and borrow in excess of 75% of the value of a property, continues to act as a drag on demand."

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