[LONDON] British house prices rose by 7.8 per cent in the three months to December compared with the same period last year, the weakest increase since January last year, mortgage lender Halifax said on Thursday.

But house prices in December alone rose 0.9 per cent, the biggest monthly increase since last July.

Economists had expected prices to rise by 8.0 per cent and 0.3 per cent, according to a Reuters poll.

Halifax reiterated that it expects house price growth to moderate this year to between 3 and 5 per cent.

REUTERS