UK house prices fall in February - Halifax

LONDON (Reuters) - British house prices fell in month-on-month terms in February for the first time since October, mortgage lender Halifax said on Thursday, as a slowdown in the housing market since the middle of last year continued.

Halifax said house prices fell 0.3 percent in February from January, compared with a forecast for a decline of 0.2 percent in a Reuters poll. (ECONGB)

The fall contrasted with a surprise jump of 1.9 percent in January, typically a quiet month when price moves are volatile.

Halifax economist Martin Ellis said there were some signs of a firming in the market, pointing to a 2.6 percent increase in prices in the three months to February from the previous three months, the second time in a row that prices by that measure increased.

He said increases in real earnings, recent falls in mortgage interest rates and changes to property taxes announced late last year were underpinning the market.

Prices in the three months to February were 8.3 percent higher than a year earlier, slowing slightly from an increase of 8.5 percent in the three months to January.

Britain's housing market has cooled since the middle of last year -- when Halifax measured house price growth at more than 10 percent -- after the Bank of England and other regulators took measures to ensure safer mortgage lending.

A separate house price index compiled by another lender, Nationwide, however, showed prices fell 0.1 percent in monthly terms in February and slowed to an increase of 5.7 percent in annual terms.

There have been some other signs that the slowdown might be bottoming out, including a rise in the number of monthly mortgage approvals in December and January.

(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Susan Fenton)