British house prices climbed in January, a leading survey showed today, in contrast to a rival report that showed that they dropped at the start of 2012.
House prices climbed by 0.6% in January after falling by 1% the previous month, data from home-loans provider Halifax showed today. Nationwide bank had reported last week that British house prices fell by 0.9% in January from December.
Halifax, which is part of state-controlled Lloyds Banking Group, said the average house price in Britain stood at £160,907 sterling (€194,290) in January, which was 1.8% lower than a year ago.
"The continuing very low level of interest rates has helped to support housing demand, resulting in little overall movement in house prices since last spring," Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis said.
"Prospects for house prices over the coming months will, to a large extent, depend on events in the euro zone and the repercussions of developments there for the UK economy,'' he said.
"If the UK can avoid a prolonged recession, we expect broad stability in house prices in 2012," he added.
