UK house prices registered their biggest monthly fall in over 15 years in March, one of the country's largest mortgage lenders said.
Halifax, which is part of the HBOS banking group, said house prices dropped 2.5 per cent month-on-month, the biggest fall since September 1992 and much worse than the 0.4 per cent fall analysts had expected, following February's fall of 0.3 per cent.
The average house price in the UK in March was £191,556 sterling, down from February's £196,649, Halifax said.
In annual terms, March's prices slowed to a rise of 1.1 per cent from February's 4.2 per cent. The March increase was the smallest since March 1996 and below analysts' forecasts for a 2.3 per cent rise.
House prices fell 1 per cent in the first quarter from the previous quarter, the biggest all since the second quarter of 1995.