House prices fall for first month in ten

Date: Friday 26 Feb 2010

Icy weather blasted through the housing market in February with prices falling for the first time in ten months, according to building society Nationwide.

Average property values dropped by 1% compared with January, with the average home worth £161,320, though the underlying annual rate of increase rose to 9.2%.

Nationwide blamed the weather and also the end of the stamp duty holiday for the slowdown. Its three-month indicator also showed price rises slowing to 1.6% in the three months to February, down from 2% in January and 3.7% in September.

"There is evidence from a range of indicators that the market may have lost momentum in early 2010 as the stamp duty holiday ended and house hunters were obstructed by the icy weather," said Martin Gahbauer, chief economist for the Nationwide.

"Even without the impact of stamp duty changes and the snowy weather, it would have been surprising to see house prices maintain the very strong upward momentum seen for most of 2009, " he added.

The stamp duty threshold dropped back to £125,000 on 1 January after being raised to £175,000 for just over a year.

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