The average house price is now £183,476 compared to a figure of about £215,000 last June.

Prices are still significantly higher than two years ago, but the three-month view of the housing market shows a continuing decline.

Experts said the adjustment from the housing boom had been "painful" and it was important to win back confidence.

Tom McClelland, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said estate agents were facing redundancies and office closures because of the stagnant market.

"People are being paid off because there is not activity there," he said.

"There has been a big price hike over the last two years, that has to be adjusted and the adjustment is painful."

People are taking their homes off the market, he said and investors had now left.

In the boom, first time buyers had been left behind, but he said they could now re-enter the market.

Professor Alasdair Adair, University of Ulster, said the drop in the level of activity in the housing market was "unchartered territory" for Northern Ireland.

"We know there are people out there who want to buy at the moment.

"The problem is getting the capacity to borrow money and therefore we need to get some stability back into the lending market," he said.

Concern is now growing that a sharp correction in the housing market will spread to consumer spending and the rest of the economy.

Furniture and household goods retailers are already suffering, as are homebuilders across the United Kingdom.

The Nationwide survey found that the housing market in Scotland had been more resilient than elsewhere.

But the credit crunch and the resulting difficulty for many to get a good mortgage deal has led to many potential buyers staying put across the rest of the UK.