The decline is part of a national trend which has also seen new buyer enquiries tail off for the tenth month in a row, according to new figures from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Today John Francis, principal of Crapper and Haigh estate agents in Sheffield city centre, admitted: "The state of the market is terrible."

He added: "If people are looking to sell they may have to take a hit on the price.

"Gone are those halcyon days when houses in Sheffield were going for several thousand above the asking price. That is as rare as hen's teeth these days.

"You have got to be realistic and competitively priced, and if you get an offer near or around the asking price then you're lucky."

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Mr Francis said properties were still selling but they were taking longer, with some homes on the market for six or seven months.

And he predicted the market would stay static for the foreseeable future.

He said: "There is no sense there is going to be a dramatic turn in the market, it tends to creep up on us, and at the moment I can't see any signs of a massive recovery.

"There's a lack of buyers out there."

He added first time buyers were finding it increasingly difficult to get on to the housing ladder, adding: "Just because you are selling a first time buyer property doesn't mean you are going to sell it instantly."

Alistair Humphrey, managing director of Eadon Lockwood and Riddle, agreed.

"It's grim," he said. "It's all about transaction speed - it's much longer these days. It used to be three months between putting your house on the market and moving out - now it's more like six."

He said prospective buyers were suffering "unease" caused by gloomy reports of the global economy, uncertainty surrounding interest rates, and fears following the Northern Rock crisis and the American sub-prime collapse.

Buyers were finding it harder to get mortgages, existing home-owners had been hit hard when coming out of cheap fixed rate mortgage deals, and the introduction of Home Information Packs had also not helped, he said.

"We still get some bidding wars, houses going for more than their asking price, but they are fairly isolated," he said. "If you've got a very attractive property in a splendid location you can still do well, but sellers achieving their asking price are few and far between.

"Sellers need to be realistic - if you're serious about selling you need to be realistic on price."

And a spokeswoman for housing agents Homebuyers in Campo Lane, Sheffield, said the company was no longer offering residential sales, and was concentrating on property lettings, management and overseas sales instead.

She said: "We've pulled out of the market, so I suppose that tells you how bad things are. We took a business decision in December not to continue."

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said 79 per cent of its members in Yorkshire and Humberside reported a fall in house prices in February.

And they said the pace of decline in new buyer inquiries was at its fastest in the survey's history.

RICS said many would-be buyers were either struggling to raise the necessary cash or were exercising caution because of economic uncertainty.

But there was some good news. Yorkshire and Humberside has bucked the trend for the number of new houses being put on the market, and price expectations have improved slightly.

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