The Royal Institute Of Chartered Surveyors extrapolates from its tortuous system of house price rating today that interest rates are biting and inflation is slowing. Its three month balance (the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing prices rising and the percentage reporting prices falling) fell to 28.0 in January, from 36.6 in December.

"The Bank of England's hawkish activity has deterred some buyers who have started to hesitate before taking the property ladder plunge," said RICS spokesman Jeremy Lea.

However, according to the survey, both sales and sales-to-stock ratio rose in January at their fastest since May 2004. So where does that leave us? Confused. More here.

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