Spanish house prices dropped by nearly 10 percent in the fourth quarter from the same time last year, government data showed Tuesday, a sign that the property bust at the heart of the country's economic crisis has not yet touched bottom.

The average price per square metre of housing in Spain fell to 1,531.20 euros ($2,038.78) in the last three months of 2012, a drop of 2.2 percent from the previous quarter and of 9.8 percent from the same year-ago period, the housing ministry said in a statement.

Prices have dropped by 27.1 percent since their peak in the first quarter of 2008, it added, posing a problem for many homeowners who are saddled with properties that are now worth less than the amount they owe banks.

The region of Valencia on Spain's Mediterranean coast posted the biggest drop in house prices in the fourth quarter of 2012 with a decline of 13.7 percent over the same year-ago period.

The Basque Country in the north on the border with France posted the smallest decline in housing prices with a fall of just 2.1 percent.