The Market

Recent interest rate rises have slowed the market in England and Wales, claims property website Rightmove. It says asking price rose only 0.9% in the month to mid-February, the lowest increase at this time of year since 2002. Annual asking price inflation has dropped from 13.5% a month ago to 11.5% now. A typical home takes 78 days between going on the market and an offer being accepted, says Rightmove, which analyses data from more than 140,000 homes on sale.

First-time buyers accounted for just 11.3% of all sales in January, says the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). "This is significantly short of the 25% share that a buoyant market would hope for," it says, noting that there are now big variations in the UK market, with London and southeast England strong, but transaction levels dropping significantly in many other regions.