Shropshire’s housing market continued to slump in the first three months of this year with less than 500 homes sold across the county.

The depressing figures released by the Land Registry show that the number of homes that changed hands between January and March were less than half of those sold a year before.

But one Shropshire estate agent said today that there were signs of recovery in the market.

Official figures show that just 166 homes were sold in the Telford area from January to March with 314 across the rest of Shropshire.

This compares to 759 sold in the SY and TF postcode areas in the last three months of 2008 and the 1,036 homes that were sold in the first three months of 2007 when the property market was still booming.

However, estate agent Nick Tart, who has been in the business at 35 years, said he had seen an increase in the market since February.

“It is a somewhat fragile recovery but things are much better than 2008 which is the worst year I have every experienced,” he said.

“Land registers usually go through to the registry figures a couple of months after the sale so these figures will probably relate to sales in the last months of 2008.

“What has happened is that house prices, which simply became too expensive, have settled down. This is good news for first-time buyers trying to get onto the property ladder.”

Land Registry figures show the hotspot in Telford & Wrekin was TF10 7, the Newport area, were 21 homes were sold, including 10 semi-detached houses. There were 15 homes sold in the Hadley area where the average semi-detached home is now £97,743.

Much Wenlock remained the most expensive, where five detached houses averaging £452,400 were sold.

In Shropshire, the most expensive homes sold were in the rural area just south of Oswestry where prices averaged £473,333. But a terraced home in Sutton Hill and Madeley in Telford cost just over £72,000.

Bill Brookes, of DB Roberts and Partners, agreed the figures would have related to the last few months of 2008.

“We have seen considerably more interest recently and I am hopeful that things have reached the lowest level and will slowly recover.

“I would like to think that by the third quarter of this year we will be seeing a recovery but it is going to be slow.”

By Sue Austin