House prices slipped by 0.2% last month with the average price of a home now 1.3% lower than it was this time last year, according to the latest research from Nationwide.
However, the Swindon-based building society said the three-month on three-month measure, which it called a better way of the gauging the underlying trend, showed a modest rise of 0.6%.
Nationwide's chief economist Robert Gardner said: “Since November 2010 house prices have increased in three months and fallen in three months. It is not unusual to see a pattern of modest monthly increases and decreases when the market is fairly static, as has been the case since last summer."
The building society said a strong rebound in prices this year is unlikely as the economic recovery is expected to remain modest by historic standards.
A typical home now costs £165,609.
While the Nationwide expects house prices to "move sideways or drift modestly lower through 2011," according to the report, other recent evidence has pointed to a modest pick up in sales.
HM Revenue and Customs reported a jump of 10,000 in the number of homes sold in March – up from 55,000 in February to 66,000.
However, sales in the first three months of the year, at 174,000, are still lower than during the same period last year, and were the second lowest figures on record for a first quarter.
