The dire state of the housing market in 2008 has seen one in four properties in certain parts of the country remain on sale for the whole of the year, new figures show.

The data from property search engine Globrix show that across the whole of the UK, 5% of homes that are for sale were first put on the market at the beginning of this year.

However, certain areas have suffered more than others, such as Rochdale in Lancashire where 26% of properties on offer have failed to sell since the beginning of the year.

The stagnating property market has also badly affected Aberystwyth in Wales, with 23% of homes that are for sale there having failed to find a buyer since the beginning of the year, while 20% of homes in Swanage in Dorset have also languished on the market since January.

Falling house prices are putting people off getting on to the property ladder or trading up it, and property sales are running at around half of the level seen during 2007.

Globrix said towns in the North of England had been particularly hard hit by the stagnating market, with properties in the North accounting for eight of the top 10 towns which have the highest proportion of properties that have failed to sell during the past year.

In Pontefract, West Yorkshire, 18% of homes have been up for sale since January, while in Ripon and Wetherby 15% of homes have not sold in the past 12 months.

Around 14% of properties that are for sale have also been on the market since the beginning of the year in Shipley, West Yorkshire, and Oldham in Lancashire.

Daniel Lee, chief executive of Globrix, said: "It's been a terrible year for the property market. These end-of-year figures really do bring into sharp focus just how stagnant the property market has been in 2008.

"Fortunately, in the past few weeks there have been signs that sellers are starting to accept that they need to drop their prices if they are going to attract buyers."

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