Amsterdam - Dutch home prices dropped for the third consecutive quarter, the umbrella association of Dutch home realtors NVM said in a report released on Thursday.

NVM said the price of Dutch homes dropped 3.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the last months of 2008, while the number of homes sold in the first months of the year fell 43 per cent compared with the same period in 2008.

It also took homeowners more time to sell their homes: 105 days in the first quarter of 2009 compared with 84 days in the last months of 2008.

NVM chairman Ger Hukker said that while he did not expect home prices to recover any time soon, he said his association believed the number of home sales would be slightly higher in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, the homeowner guarantor WEW said some 25 per cent more homeowners suffered mortgage payment problems in the first quarter of 2009 compared with same period in 2008.

The WEW is a private fund that provides mortgage insurance to owners of homes of no more than 265,000 euros (250,621 dollars) in value. dpa