BRITAIN'S biggest mortgage lender The Halifax believes the property market is continuing to come off the boil.

But its regional breakdown of house prices for the third quarter of the year showed there is still a sharp divide in prices between the North of England and the South.

But the UK's annual rate of house price inflation - which measures changes in the price of a range of house types taking into account seasonal variations - was 8.1 per cent, down from 11.3 per cent in the second quarter of the year.

But in the North-East prices have fallen by 1.3 per cent over the past year.