LONDON, April 4: British house prices surged in March, a major survey showed on Wednesday, in contrast to a rival report which said they had fallen last month.

House prices rose by 2.2 per cent in March after dropping 0.4 per cent the previous month, data from home-loans provider Halifax showed.

Halifax, which is part of state-controlled Lloyds Banking Group, added that the average house price in Britain stood at £163,803 (197,701 euros, $259,863) in March, which was 0.6 per cent lower than one year ago.

The bank said property sales rallied nearing the end of a two-year exemption on stamp duty, or the tax levied on the purchase of a house or flat costing less than £250,000. The “stamp duty holiday” expired in late March.

“Efforts by first-time buyers to beat the expiry of the stamp duty holiday at the end of March have probably increased sales in recent months and may have helped to support prices,” said Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis.

“We continue to expect little overall movement in prices this year provided that the UK economy does not suffer a pronounced weakening.”

In contrast to the Halifax data, Nationwide bank last week reported that British house prices slumped by 1.0 per cent in March from February, and by 0.9 per cent on an annual comparison.—AFP