Mon 10 May, 2004 10:25 LONDON (Reuters) - Annual house price inflation was 7.8 percent in March, down from 9.8 percent in February, official data show.
The figures from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on Monday undershoot the results of property and banking industry surveys produced in recent weeks but support the consensus that the trend in prices is firmly upward.
This is despite interest rate rises from the Bank of England that many economists and commentators believe were aimed specifically at cooling the housing market -- a claim the bank denies.
The ODPM's figures also said house price inflation had fallen in all regions of the UK except Northern Ireland in March.
While this would be a relief to the Bank of England, it is at odds with surveys from lenders such as Halifax and Nationwide which showed house prices accelerating in the past couple of months.
House prices are a closely-watched economic indicator in Britain where two-thirds of people own their own home and bumper consumer spending has been buoyed by owners borrowing against the increased values of their homes.
The average house price in the UK was 161,306 pounds in March on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, up from 160,937 pounds in February, the ODPM said. Echoing the results of other surveys, the ODPM said the strongest rises in house prices were outside London, by far and away the richest housing market in the country. Annual house price inflation in London was put at 4.9 percent in March, down from 5.7 percent in February.