The annual increase in house prices slowed to around 1.2% in January, the national statistics office and land registry said on Friday. In December the annual rise was 1.6%.

Last week, the land registry said that the volume of house sales in January were down 25% compared with January 2008 and 48% compared with December.
Detached and semi-detached house prices rose 1.7% in January, with the provinces of Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland (which include Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague) showing the biggest increases.
In Limburg and Flevoland homes were cheaper than they were a year ago.