• House prices fell by 1.0% month-on-month in February
• Price decline may be explained by snowy weather and expiry of stamp duty holiday
• Too early to say whether February's drop is start of a new trend

Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said:

"The price of a typical UK property fell by a seasonally adjusted 1.0% month-on-month (m/m) in February, ending a strong run of nine consecutive monthly increases. The relatively smoother three month on three month rate of inflation remained positive at +1.6%, though this is down from +2.0% in January and a peak of +3.7% in September 2009. The annual rate of price inflation still managed to increase from 8.6% to 9.2% year-on-year, as this month's fall was smaller than the 1.5% m/m decline recorded in February 2009. The average price of a typical property sold in the UK during February was £161,320."

For further information please see our February 2010 report (PDF 88KB).