UK house price growth eases in February

[LONDON] British house prices rose at the slowest pace in six months in February, but strong expectations for rising prices and activity suggest the housing market recovery still has a long way to run, a survey showed yesterday.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said that its main house price balance measure eased last month to +45, its lowest since August, from +52 in January, downwardly revised from +53 reported earlier.

February's reading was below all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists that predicted an unchanged balance of +52.