British house prices fell 0.5 per cent on the month in February, mortgage lender Halifax said today.
A 0.5 per cent fall in February followed a 0.8 per cent gain in January and left the annual rate of increase at 12.1 per cent in the three months to February down from 13.7 per cent in the prior period.
That was the slowest pace since December 2001. Mr Martin Ellis, chief economist at HBOS, of which Halifax is a unit, said estate agents were reporting signs that the housing market was stabilising and rising employment continued to underpin prices.
"This continues the mixed pattern of monthly price rises and falls recorded since last summer and is consistent with a gradual slowdown in house price inflation," he said.
The mortgage lender said the average price of a British home was a seasonally adjusted £162,816 in February down from £163,748 in January.
The Halifax figures contrast with a survey from Nationwide building society earlier this week, which said house prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5 per cent in February although the annual rate, at 10.2 per cent, was the lowest since June 2001.