IT'S absolutely shameless that estate agent websites and other vested interests are trying to hype the York property market, when the reality is the opposite (March 1).

Unlike estate agents, the Land Registry records concrete selling prices, so is relatively free of manipulation. It has reported a 4.3 per cent annual drop in York house prices.

The fall for the latest quarter alone is 4.8 per cent. Terraced houses have taken a stunning nine per cent plunge in the last year!

I trust these hard facts much more than the wild "predictions" and "expectations" of various websites which have a vested interest in hyping the market.

For first time buyers like myself, and those who cannot afford to move up the ladder, the sentiment is "about time too". York prices are ridiculously overheated, and the buy-to-let housing bubble has finally burst in this city.

A healthy correction is long overdue, and I am looking forward to the falls continuing so that perhaps I can afford to buy in a year or so.

Peter Sanderson,

Wellington Street,

York.

Updated: 10:47 Friday, March 03, 2006