House prices rose 1.9 per cent in January

Embattled British homeowners were offered a glimmer of hope today as the latest monthly house price survey from the Halifax showed that average prices rose by 1.9 per cent last month.
The UK's biggest mortgage lender, owned by the part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group, said that the rise last month offset December's fall of 1.6 per cent.
The average house costs £163,966, the Halifax said.
But the Halifax, whose survey is among the most carefully watched barometers of market confidence, cautioned against paying too much attention to any single month.
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Prices have still fallen by 5.1 per cent over the past three months and have slumped by 17.2 per cent over the previous 12 months.
Martin Ellis, the Halifax's housing economist, said: "There are some very early signs that market activity may be stabilising, albeit at quite a low level.
"Nonetheless, continuing pressures on incomes, rising unemployment and the negative impact of the dislocation of the financial markets on the availability of mortgage finance are expected to mean that 2009 will be a difficult year for the housing market."
Today's survey from the Halifax comes on the day that the Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates for the third month in a row in a desperate effort to revitalise the economy.
The Bank is expected to cut the cost of borrowing by 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent, their lowest level ever.
Earlier this week, however, the Building Societies Assocation urged the Bank to keep rates on hold, arguing that borrowing costs were now low enough.
The Federation of Small Businesses gave the Bank the same message today, saying that it was bank's willingness to lend that was now the real issue.
The Halifax's survey comes after two economic indicators this week offered further indications that the nation's economic woes could be close to bottoming out.
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS)/Markit survey showed that activity in the services sector slumped again in January, but at a slower pace than analysts had expected.
A second CIPS survey of construction also showed that output is declining across the industry, but again at a slower rate than previously.