By Charlotte Beugge

Britain's homeowners are getting less optimistic that house prices will rise. More than half (55%) of homeowners in the final quarter of last year expected prices to rise compared with 59% in the third quarter, a poll by property website Zoopla shows.

However as usual, London bucked the nationwide trend with 72% of homeowners in the capital expecting prices to rise compared with 68% in the previous quarter, according to a report in Mortgage Strategy.

Respondents said they expected London house prices to increase by 4.7% compared with 3.6% predicted in the last survey.

Nicholas Leeming of Zoopla said: "Until there is some good news on the overall economy, homeowners will continue to be cautious with their optimism for the property market.

"Londoners, however, are living in a market detached from the rest of the UK. Many overseas buyers continue to pile into London property to take shelter from economic or political storm clouds elsewhere which is helping to boost prices and confidence in the capital."

According to the Halifax, last year the average UK home fell in value by 1.3% - with the typical property worth £160,063 - £3,602 less than at the end of 2010.

It said that the Surrey town of Woking saw the biggest increase in town prices last year, rising 16% - but Zoopla says that the north-west town of Wigan topped the charts at 6%.