The housing market is in for a decade-long recovery, according to one leading estate agent.

London-based agency Savills predicts that the homeowners will have to hold on to their properties until at least 2018 before they return to their peak price achieved in the summer of 2007, reports the Times.

Savills claims that house prices are falling by £78 a day and believes prices will plummet by 16 per cent this year and a further 11 per cent by the end of 2009, the paper states.

Meanwhile, the firm claims that prime properties – worth £1 million or more – are losing an average of £493 a day, according to the news provider.

The estate agency group told the Times it expects the market to hit rock bottom during 2010 before starting on the road to recovery in 2011.

In related news, telephone directory firm 118118 said – based on 130 million calls – calls for estate agents were down six per cent in the first half of this year when compared with the same period in 2007, reports the Guardian.

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