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The government's own house price figures confirmed a fall in prices in February by 1.6%.

The results come after leading mortgage lenders have offered similarly downbeat views on property prices.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (Rics) said that 78.5% more surveyors reported a fall than a rise in house prices in March.

This was the gloomiest reading since Rics began the survey in 1978.

Rics said the next six months would be crucial for homeowners and would-be buyers in the UK.

The Rics house price balance dropped for the eighth consecutive month. It exceeded the previously lowest reading in June 1990.

Jeremy Leaf, Rics spokesman, said the gloom was the result of the credit crunch and its effect in stopping mortgage providers lending to each other.

But he added that a significant crash in prices remained unlikely and buyers with access to large deposits had the chance to get their hands on property they could not previously aspire to.

The survey follows March reports from the UK's two biggest mortgage lenders which reported month-on-month falls in house prices and predictions of a fall throughout 2008.

Last week, the Halifax reported a 2.5% fall in prices in March, the biggest monthly decline since September 1992 and the slowest annual growth for 12 years.