February saw UK house price rise after three months of not moving, according to the latest report from the Financial Times House Price Index, although the overall trend is of a slowing market. Their index registered a 0.5% rise in house prices in February, putting annual inflation at an average 6.1%, down from 6.8% in January. This rise is more than over the previous three months, said the report, which had seen the lowest monthly growth rates in over three years. London still seems to be out of kilter with the rest of the country, with annual growth of 12.7% in February, which although over twice the average growth for the UK, has also fallen now for five consecutive months. Within London, Kensington and Chelsea showed the highest annual growth rate, while Bexley showed the weakest. Among the regions, Wales saw the greatest drops in prices, falling by as much as 0.9% in February, and the North of England and East Anglia also showed declines, with falls of 0.1% and 0.2%. We are now seeing a clear feed-through from the problems in the funding markets in terms of the increased price and reduced availability of a wide range of mortgage products, said Peter Williams at Acadametrics, who produce the FT House Price Index. Without a doubt, 2008 will be a challenging year.
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