LONDON, Feb 14 Reuters British house prices fell by 1.4 on an annual basis in December, after a revised 2.3 decrease in November, the Office for National Statistics ONS said on Wednesday.

London was the region with the biggest annual decrease with prices in the capital falling by 4.8, it said.

Our initial estimate of UK house prices shows another annual fall in December, however the pace of decrease has slowed since the previous month, Aimee North, head of housing market indices at the ONS, said.

Wednesday39;s data contrasted with some other measures of Britain39;s housing market which showed house prices rose in January as demand picked up after mortgage rates fell.

A surprise pause in British consumer price inflation on Wednesday also bolstered market expectations of a rate cut by the Bank of England after 14 backtoback increases between December 2021 and August 2023.

Reporting by Suban Abdulla; editing by David Milliken

Source Reuters