LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The pace of decline in British house prices eased slightly in December, but sales hit a record low and the proportion of unsold houses is at its highest level since 1992, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said on Tuesday.
RICS forecast last month that house prices would fall another 10 percent this year for a peak-to-trough fall of 25 percent, and responses from their members bear out the view that prices are still sinking.
The RICS house price balance -- the difference between the percentage of its members reporting house price rises and the percentage reporting falls -- eased slightly to minus 73.5 from November's upwardly revised minus 75.8.
Just 10.1 sales per surveyor were completed over the previous three months, the lowest since the survey began in 1978 and 57 percent fewer than for the same period in 2007.
"Recent interest rate cuts will of course help in the medium to long term but with banks still reluctant to lend money, it is difficult to see any short-term market recovery," said Benson Beard from London estate agent Bective Leslie Marsh, one of the RICS members surveyed.
Estate agents sold just 12.9 percent of unsold stock in December, the worst result since December 1992 when Britain was last in a deep recession, down from 13.6 percent in November. (Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Victoria Main)