A PROPERTY expert has warned that house prices in East Lancashire could fall by as much as 10 per cent over the next year.

The latest Land Registry figures for the area - for the three months up to last December - show that average house prices in half of the six East Lancashire boroughs fell.

In the Ribble Valley average prices fell by 7.1 per cent, in Hyndburn by 4.1 per cent and in Pendle by 2.6 per cent.

It is the first time the area has seen price drops since the 1990s.

In Rossendale, prices increased by 10.6 per cent; Burnley by 4.8 per cent and Blackburn with Darwen by 3.4 per cent.

The average house price in Ribble Valley currently stands at £226,660, in Blackburn with Darwen its £125,386, Pendle's average is £117,239, Hyndburn's is £110,323 and the average in Burnley is £100,909, according to the Land Registry.

The overall average change for Lancashire was a small rise of just one per cent.

John Lawlor, of Haworth and Nuttall Solicitors, which has offices in Blackburn and Accrington, said that as the economy slowed there was less money available for house buyers to invest in property.

He said that most firms had tightened up their lending criteria and, as a result, it was becoming more difficult to get on, or move up, the property ladder.

Mr Lawlor believes that house prices will continue to fall during 2008, as prospective sellers find that they have to reduce the asking prices of their properties to achieve a sale.

He said: "We are finding that many sellers in East Lancashire are having to reduce their asking prices by thousands of pounds in a bid to achieve a sale.

"Some people are even completing sales before they have found a property to buy, seeing completion of the sale as a priority and therefore, having to move into temporary accommodation until they find somewhere alternative to buy.Over the last quarter of 2007, some were predicting that the average house price in the Ribble Valley would reach £250,000 but this has not happened.

"According to the Land Registry statistics, the Ribble Valley has, in fact, seen the biggest fall, at 7.1 per cent.

"It is even possible, that as the market becomes a buyers' market - so there are more sellers trying to sell their property than there are buyers willing to buy - prices could fall by as much as 10 per cent as sellers fight for the few available buyers."