The full extent of the slow-down in the Cornish property market towards the end of last year has been revealed in the latest release of data from the Land Registry.

House sales in the county slumped by more than 40% in the final quarter of 2004 compared to the same period in 2003, although average prices were still considerably ahead year-on-year and estate agents are viewing this as a cooling-off in the market rather than a crash.

Figures just released by the Land Registry, which records details of all property transactions and is therefore seen as the most authoritative source of market information, show that only 2,097 houses were sold in Cornwall between October and December last year compared to 3,722 in the same quarter of 2003.

The figures show that the average price of houses sold in Cornwall during the final quarter of the year was £204,427, 17% ahead of last year.

The trend was much the same across all sectors of the market. The average price of detached houses rose year-on-year from £233,424 to £275,274 but the number of actual sales dropped from 1,420 in the final quarter of 2003 to 762 in 2004.

Semi-detached houses rose in price from £148,147 to £180,754, but again with a big drop in actual sales from 813 to 431. Terraced houses sold for an average price of £160,962 in the final quarter of 2004 compared to £136,665 in 2003, but with a 40% drop in the number of transactions. In the Carrick district - which includes Falmouth, Penryn and Truro - the number of houses sold dropped from 672 in the final quarter of 2003 to 342 in the same period last year but the average price was up from £197,302 to £225,486.

In the Kerrier district - Camborne, Redruth and Helston - house sales dropped from 617 to 292 with an average price of £192,713, 18% up on the same period in the previous year. Although year-on-year there have been big price increases, there was a considerable slowdown in price inflation between the third and fourth quarters. In the final three months of the year, prices in Cornwall went up by only 1.5% on the previous period and the number of transactions dropped from 3,124 in July-September to 2,097 in October-December.

The Land Registry data appears to confirm the view of Cornish estate agents that the market has cooled rather than crashed and there is unlikely to be a repeat in 2005 of the soaring annual prices seen over recent years.

Until the summer of last year vendors were seeking "offers in excess" of the advertised price. Now they are likely to have to accept a few thousand less than they expected if they want a quick sale.