Britain's house prices fell for a fourth month in October as the property market continued to deteriorate, Halifax said. Values dropped 0.7 per cent from the previous month to an average £158,426 (HK$1.96 million), the mortgage unit of Lloyds Banking Group said. From a year earlier, prices fell 2.8 per cent. "Signs of a modest deterioration in the trend in house prices continued in October," Halifax economist Martin Ellis said. "The weak economic background has been a key factor dampening housing demand this year. Recent encouraging developments relating to the level of overall economic activity and conditions in the labour market, however, may help to support demand and underpin house prices around current levels." Bloomberg

Australian house prices rose for a second straight quarter, the first back-to-back increases since 2010, led by gains in the capitals of states at the centre of the nation's mining boom. An index measuring the weighted average of house prices in eight major cities advanced 0.3 per cent in the third quarter from the previous three months, when it rose a revised 0.6 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney. The data reflects 1.25 percentage points of interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia from November to June as it seeks to strengthen areas outside the resources industry where investment is expected to peak at a lower level than previously expected next year. Central bank governor Glenn Stevens resumed reductions in borrowing costs last month and traders were pricing in a 50-50 chance of a rate cut yesterday. Bloomberg