House prices fell at their fastest pace for six months in April as a temporary boost from a tax holiday and unseasonally warm weather in March faded, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) seasonally adjusted house price balance fell to -19 from a slightly downwardly revised -11 in March, substantially undershooting economists' forecasts for a -10 reading.
London was again the only part of the country where house prices rose, albeit at the slowest rate since mid-2011.
And for the first time since September, home sales declined.
House prices had earlier been supported by an exemption for first-time buyers from a transaction tax on homes worth less than 250,000 pounds which expired in late March, as well as by unusually warm weather which boosted viewings.
Read More - http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/05/08/uk-house-prices-idUKBRE8470B220120508
