New figures show that UK house prices edged 0.1% higher during March, helping to improve the quarterly rate of decline in the country's faltering property market.
The slight improvement last month came after prices dropped 0.9% in February, lender Halifax said. This eased the quarterly fall to 0.6% between January and March.
The average UK house price stood at £162,912 in March, but this was 2.9% lower than a year earlier as values continued to fall by at their fastest annual pace since October 2009.
Halifax economist Martin Ellis said uncertainty over the general economic outlook and individual financial circumstances was likely to constrain housing demand.
Most economists agree that UK house prices will dip this year as tight credit conditions, high unemployment, low wage growth, public cuts and the fragile economic recovery deter homebuyers.
Mortgage approvals are still running at around half their long-run average, despite record low interest rates of 0.5%. Economists expect the Bank of England to keep rates on hold on Thursday to try to bolster the recovery, despite inflation running at more than double its 2% target.
UK industrial output posts largest drop since 2009
UK industrial production slumped in February by the biggest amount for 18 months, official data showed today, denting hopes of a swift recovery for the faltering economy.
Industrial output, which includes mining and quarrying, sank 1.2% in February from January, the Office for National Statistics said. That was the largest drop since August 2009 and was driven by a sharp slump in oil and gas extraction. However, output rose by 2.4% on an annual basis.
The overall economy shrank by 0.5% between October and December compared with the third quarter of 2010, partly because cold weather hampered the construction industry, according to recent official data.
The ONS added that manufacturing output, which excludes mining and quarrying, was flat in February from the previous month, but was 4.9% higher compared with the level a year earlier.
