LONDON (Reuters) - British house prices fell unexpectedly last month but were still almost 10 percent higher than a year ago, mortgage lender Halifax said on Thursday.
House prices fell 1.4 percent in February, reversing much of January's 1.7 percent increase, compared with a forecast for zero growth in a Reuters poll. Annual house price growth was steady at 9.7 percent in the three months to February.
Despite February's fall, Halifax said house prices were likely to continue rising at a robust pace because of an imbalance between supply and demand.
Earlier on Thursday, rival mortgage lender Nationwide reported that house price growth picked up speed in annual terms last month.
