House prices rose in December Article Published: 23:39 06/02/2009 Article Classification: United Kingdom
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House prices rose by 1.9% in January, Halifax said today, putting an end to months of falls and taking many commentators by surprise.

The last time prices increased was in January last year when they rose by just 0.1%. Since then prices have been on a downward slope, falling by more than 1.5% in every month except September, according to figures from the UK's largest lender.

January's price increase reverses a fall of 1.6% in December – a revised figure, with Halifax previously reporting a 2.2% drop– and the average price of a home in the UK now stands at £163,966, more than £4,000 higher than at the end of December.

However, the annual rate of change, measured by comparing the average for the latest three months against the same period a year earlier, shows year-on-year falls increased to 17.2% in January from 16.2% in December.

Halifax said it was important not to place too much emphasis on any one month's figures, and that the three-month figures, which are a better indictor of underlying trends in the market, showed prices had fallen by 5.2%.

Halifax's housing economist, Martin Ellis, said: "Historically, house prices have not moved in the same direction month after month even during a pronounced downturn.