THE lower North Shore was the weakest region for residential house prices over the past year, with a 12.7 per cent fall to a $1.1 million median sales price. The second weakest district was Sydney's east, where prices fell 6.8 per cent, to $1.01 million, according to Australian Property Monitors. House prices fell just 1.2 per cent in the inner west, and the decline in the long-ailing west and south-west was less than the overall Sydney decline of 3.1 per cent in the past year. Sydney's median house price is now 6.5 per cent below its peak of $568,500, in March 2004. The price collapse was not as steep or as deep as in Perth, where prices have fallen 7.4 per cent from the peak of $516,000 last December, APM said. The median house price in Sydney, $531,500, remains the country's highest, followed by the price in Canberra, $498,000. While the softening in median prices may be distorted by the large drop in sales activity, real estate agents have been increasingly advising vendors to price listings below recent comparable sales if they wish to secure a sale in the remaining spring market. In the September quarter the price of houses in Sydney fell 1.7 per cent. Source From SMH