By Matthew Kinlin
House prices dropped slightly in the last month, according to Nationwide – falling by 0.2% in January 2012, compared with December.
According to the building society, the average UK home was valued in January at £162,228.
Nationwide also reported that the annual price growth slowed from 1% in December to 0.6% in January.
“Given the challenging conditions prevailing in late 2011, with the UK economy contracting in the final three months of the year, it is not surprising that house price growth softened at the start of 2012,” said Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist.
“The economy is not expected to gather much momentum until the second half of 2012 at the earliest, which suggests that labour market conditions and buyer sentiment may be slow to improve.”
When looking at the three-month on three-month measure, Nationwide reported that home values have risen by 0.3%, the same as in December.
According to the Land Registry, home prices in England and Wales fell by 1.3% over the last year. The year finished with a home costing an average of £160,000.
In terms of regional change, the only growth occurred in London with homes rising by 2.8% to an average of £345,000. The largest drop in prices happened in north-east England with prices dropping by 7.1%, bringing homes in the area down to an average of £99,000.