The Halifax Bank said today it had overestimated average house prices over the last year.
Earlier, the Halifax, Britain's largest mortgage lender, said house prices fell 2.1 per cent on the month, the largest fall since September 1992 when Britain was ejected from the European exchange rate mechanism, but that the figures were distorted by statistical adjustments.
It said that allowing for adjustments, house prices rose 1 per cent on the month in December but even so house prices were not as high as previously estimated.
Halifax said the average house price was a seasonally adjusted £121,794 in December, or 23 per cent higher than a year earlier, down from a 29.2 per cent rise in November.
But the bank said the annual rate of house price inflation in December was 26.4 per cent. In a footnote, however, Halifax said was the quarterly annual figure which it said provided a "much better picture of underlying trends."
Halifax said it would not be revising its back data in line with its statistical adjustments.