Yesterday, we told the latest news from the Nationwide and Hometrack on house prices, and the news from the Bank of England on mortgage approvals.

Now the data from the Halifax is in, so here is a summary of what the latest data says.

According to the Halifax, house prices were down 1.5 per cent in February, the first fall since June last year.

Last week the Nationwide also reported a fall in February, as it recorded a fall of 1 per cent, its first monthly drop since April last year. Commenting, Martin Ellis, Housing Economist, said: “Low supply of properties for sale has been a key factor pushing up house prices. The recent improvement in market conditions has encouraged more homeowners to attempt to sell their property. The stock of properties available for sale increased for the second successive month in January. Additionally, the ratio of completed sales to stock eased, indicating a modest loosening in market conditions.”

Last week, Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “There is evidence from a range of indicators that the market may have lost momentum in early 2010 as the stamp duty holiday ended and house hunters were obstructed by the icy weather. New buyer enquiries dropped sharply in the New Year and there was also an associated drop in the number of new mortgages taken out by homebuyers in January.

“This drop in demand seems to have fed into agreed prices during February. Judging from the fall in retail sales during January, however, the housing market does not appear to be the only sector of the economy to have experienced a setback related to adverse weather and the expiry of economic stimulus measures. At this stage it is difficult to gauge how much of the drop in housing activity is attributable to one-off factors and, therefore, whether February’s fall in prices is just a temporary blip or the start of a new trend.”

Hometrack recorded a 0.3 per cent rise in house prices in February, but struck a bearish note. Richard Donnell, Director of Research, Hometrack said: “February is traditionally a month when the Hometrack survey registers significant growth in the number of sales agreed – over the last eight years the growth in sales agreed over February has averaged 30 per cent. Yet this year the number of sales agreed has averaged just 10 per cent.”

Next week will see the release of the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Recently this survey has appeared to point towards a change in the dynamic between enquiries and new instructions, with the ratio of sales to stock falling. It will be illuminating to see whether this change continued.