House prices slip as stamp duty returns

The slide, which was the first price fall for 10 months, left the average home in England and Wales costing 164,455, according to the Land Registry.

The drop is likely to have been caused by the end of the Government's stamp duty holiday in December, which had caused people buying lower-value properties to rush through purchases before the end of the year.

Both Nationwide and Halifax reported price falls for February of one per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively, as activity in the market was also hit by bad weather during January.

But the Land Registry figures also contained more positive news on the market, with annual house price inflation rising to seven per cent, its highest level since November 2007.

There was also a 25 per cent jump in the number of homes that changed hands during December, the latest month for which figures are available, pushing up transaction levels to a two-year high of 73,889, although the figures are likely to have been boosted by the approaching end to the stamp duty holiday.