House Prices Pick Up

House price rises picked up by 0.7% in February after a gain of 0.3% in January, according to the Nationwide.

The building society put this down to a shortage of properties for sale and solid buy-to-let interest supported prices.

The latest figures puts annual property price inflation back into double-digits at 10.2%.

"Buyer interest and mortgage demand are waning, but the supply of properties coming onto the market remains low," said the Nationwide's Fionnuala Earley.

"This lack of supply will mean that house price inflation will remain firm for a while longer, before gradually easing."

The Bank of England has raised interest rates three times since August in a bid to get inflation back to target.

Nationwide said there were signs higher borrowing costs were starting to cool the market.

"House price gains in January and February have now averaged 0.5% per month, significantly below the 1.1% average in the second half of 2006," said Ms Earley.

The price of a typical house now stands at £174,706. This is more than £16,000 higher than this time last year and the equivalent of a rise of more than £40 per day