1.9% Monthly Drop in UK House Prices for March - Halifax Index

The Halifax building society recorded a 1.9% fall in house prices in March according to the latest release of its house price index, though it said the annual rate of decline had slowed slightly.

This is contradictory of the 0.9% rise recorded for March by Nationwide, the second time the lender's indexes have revealed opposite results, but the opposite way round: in January Nationwide recorded a fall while Halifax said prices had risen.

This would seem to back-up those who said we shouldn't be optimistic because of the 0.9% house price rise recorded for March by Nationwide, and shows that monthly figures are inherently unreliable in such a volatile market.

It is strange that both Nationwide and Halifax indexes are now showing an average UK house price of somewhere close to the Land Registry average recently updated. Strange because the Land Registry price was only updated to reflect February's price falls. It is likely when the Land Registry releases figures for March it will show the average price of a UK house at around a further 2% lower.

According to our own Liam Bailey, the Land Registry index is the most reliable because: "it is based on all transactions in England and Wales, while the Halifax index for instance is based on only the transactions, in which it is involved either as a mortgage lender, estate agent, or other professional capacity," said Liam. However the Land Registry index does not include Scotland or Ireland.

For now the three indexes are all putting the average price of a UK home at around £150,000. The average price of a UK home according to the Land Registry is £153,862, according to Nationwide the average UK home costs £150,946, and £157,326 is the average UK house price according to the Halifax. But according to popular opinion price drops are far from over.