Date: 01/03/2010
Following seven consecutive monthly increases, house prices in February suffered a monthly decline of 1.5 per cent, according to latest figures from the Halifax.

But there is no cause for panic just yet: on an annual basis, prices rose by 4.5 per cent, easily beating last month's 3.6 per cent growth which, at that point, had been the highest year-on-year rise since February 2008.

Average house prices in the UK stood at £166,587 in February, down from £169,777 in January, but 8.0 per cent higher than their trough of £154,490 in April 2009.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: "There has been a decline in the underlying rate of house price inflation – measured by a comparison of the latest three months with the previous quarter – over the last few months.

"An increase in the number of houses for sale has helped to reduce slightly the imbalance between supply and demand.

"At the same time, the bad weather in the first two months of 2010, together with the return of the lowest stamp duty threshold to £125,000, are likely to have had an adverse impact on housing demand.

"The combination of these factors appears to have helped to curb the upward pressure on house prices."