THE housing boom showed no sign of slowing in February, with prices shooting up by 1.5 per cent, according to figures from Halifax.

The bank said the gain was due to consumer confidence continuing to bounce back after the September 11 terrorist attacks, as well as a supply shortage driving up prices.

February's strong increase pushed annual house price inflation up to 16.9 per cent, and the average house price now stands at £101,980, after rising by eight per cent in the past four months.

The figures are in line with those reported by Nationwide last week, when the building society said prices increased by 1.6 per cent in February, making the cost of a house 14 per cent higher than it had been a year ago.

Gary Styles, head of group economics at Halifax, said: "The housing market has started 2002 strongly with little sign of the widely-anticipated slowing."

Halifax said the figures were in line with other recent data on consumer confidence, mortgage growth and consumer credit, which showed that people were continuing to borrow and spend, against the background of a weak US and world economy.

But the bank said that it continued to expect slowing UK economic growth and rising unemployment to lead to an easing in house price gains during 2002.