UK house prices up 0.8% in January: Halifax

UK house prices rose by 0.8% in January compared with the previous month, according to figures from the Halifax.

But the lender said prices had fallen 2.4% compared with a year earlier with the typical home in the UK now costing £164,173.

The Halifax is expecting little change in property values over 2011, although others have predicted prices to dip.

"We expect limited movement in house prices overall this year. There are, however, likely to be some monthly fluctuations with the risks on the downside," says Halifax's housing economist Martin Ellis.

Prices in the three months to the end of January were 0.7% lower than the previous three months, the lender said.

These falling prices in recent months, as well as low interest rates, have caused a greater reluctance among homeowners to put their homes on the market, Ellis said.

"This development should help to relieve downward pressures on prices as long as it is sustained," he says.

"We also expect interest rates to remain very low for some time, supporting a favourable affordability position for many existing mortgage borrowers and those entering the market."