Legacy values have continued a soft decline, according to research released today which predicts growth will not return to the field for another two years.

The Legacy Market Monitor has found a marginal 1.6 per cent year-on-year drop in legacy income in the year ending December 2011 for the 53 charities which together comprise the Legacy Monitor Consortium. The total value of legacies for this group in that year was £981m.

While the drop is only small, and nearly half of consortium members actually saw their legacy income increase over this period, this extent of income fall is becoming a trend. The previous Monitor, which compared the 12 months ending September 2011 to the preceding year period, found an identical 1.6 per cent per cent year-on-year decline in legacy values.

The 1.6 per year-on-year decline is in stark contrast to the peak of the market, just five years ago, when in the mid-noughties charities enjoyed annual legacy income increases of 7 per cent.

Legacy Foresight, which compiles the research, again put the state of legacies down to trends in the wider economy, in particular the softened housing market.

With no economic recovery forecasted, and yesterday’s prediction by Bank of England governor Mervyn King that UK growth rates will likely “zig zag” over the course of 2012, Legacy Foresight expects legacy income will continue to struggle.

“The uncertain economic outlook suggests that there will be no significant growth in legacy income for at least two years,” the report read.