EXMOOR National Park Authority's 12th annual house price survey has revealed that the mean average house price on Exmoor has dropped by four per cent in the last 12 months.

This is the first time that house prices have dropped for two consecutive years since the survey began in 1998.

The average house price on Exmoor this year was £333,398, compared with £346,596 last year - a figure that is still substantially higher than both regional and national averages.

Average house prices in the park are still 63 per cent above the average house price in the South West and 64 per cent higher than the average price in England and Wales.

And although house prices have declined, the value of the majority of properties for sale, including the lowest priced, still remains well beyond the means of many local people, especially first time buyers.

The average gross household income for the national park is £28,132, which means that even to buy a house within the lower priced properties, residents need to borrow almost six times their income.

Exmoor National Park Authority said it had attempted to address the problem by adopting specialist housing policies to ensure all new-build housing was affordable and for local people, while the Rural Housing Project had also been playing a key role.

Rural housing enabler Colin Savage said: "We have made great progress with bringing affordable housing schemes forward.

"People will be moving into nine new homes for local people in Exford in December, ten more will be built in Cutcombe in 2010 and we are making steady progress on schemes in Simonsbath and Dulverton."

Since the policy was adopted in 2005, 24 affordable homes for people with a connection to Exmoor have been built or are currently under construction.

Some 22 are now in the planning process and 46 potentially in the pipeline.

Mr Savage said: "We are always on the lookout for new opportunities for delivering affordable housing and this can be by bringing empty or redundant buildings back into use, or by building new homes on brownfield or greenfield sites which are well related to settlements."

Ruth McArthur, policy and community manager at the authority, said it was important to know what the community wanted to see on the moor and consultation events were planned for next year to help shape a new planning document.

"As well as working to help local communities in the national park now, we want to know how people would like to see their community evolve in the future and how we can work together to achieve this," she said.

Anyone interested in developing affordable housing can contact Mr Savage on 01398 322249.