Activity levels in the local residential property market continue to decline with experts saying that the "deterioration has gone further than expected".

Released on Monday, the latest FNB Residential Property Barometer dropped to 4.42 in the second quarter of 2008, the lowest level on record and from 4.9 in the first quarter.

The barometer, which determines market sentiment of 150 real estate professionals, measures activity levels on a scale of one to 10, where one to three indicates 'Not Very Active', four to six indicates 'Stable', seven to eight is 'Active' and nine to 10 indicates a 'Very Active' market. Activity is defined as 'feet through doors', which translates into the number of potential homebuyers visiting show houses.

"The local residential property market deterioration has gone further than expected, driven primarily by inflation, interest rates and the general slowdown in the economy," said John Loos, a property strategist at FNB.

I-Net Bridge