By Charlotte Beugge

British property prices fell by 0.3% in the year to November, according to the government's own indicator, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) House Price Index.

The index, which is based on mortgage completions, does lag those produced by the Halifax and Nationwide, which are based on valuations. Halifax said that house prices for the whole of 2011 were down 1.3%.

The government index says that house prices didn't move in November and that the average UK property price was £205,796.

Along with other indices, the DCLG index shows that the London property market remained healthy in the year to November 2011 with prices rising by 3.2%. The typical London house price was £346,123, while the north-east had the lowest English typical price of £133,230.

And the index’s figures for each of the home nations echo those of other indices in showing that Northern Ireland prices really tumbled last year.

Prices in the province decreased by 11.7% over the year, far more than the 0.8% fall in Scotland, the 1.6% fall in Wales and the tiny decrease of 0.1% in England. The typical price of a home in Northern Ireland was £135,402; in Wales it was £146,812; £160,602 in Scotland and £213,668 in England.

Nationally, first-time buyers paid 0.7% more for their homes than a year ago while homemovers paid 0.7% less than in November 2010. New property prices rose substantially by 7.7% compared with a year earlier while those on pre-owned homes fell by 0.9%.