Although most areas of Britain saw falling house prices in the final quarter of 2010, the drop in December of 0.4% ensured a slight annual rise for the year as a whole, says the latest survey from Britain's biggest building society.

Claiming the current average house price is just over £162,700, Nationwide BS says the first six months of 2010 saw "upward momentum" in prices, often because of a shortage of stock, followed by falls in the second half of the year.

Now, it says: "Prices are trending down only modestly rather than decisively, with a current down trend which is only very modest."

Overall, it thinks, average prices are 0.4% ahead of December 2009.

A second survey this week, compiled by the Land Registry - based on most of the properties which sold rather than the 10% sample handled by Nationwide - says prices fell 0.6% in the last month, leaving a net 2.2% annual gain in England and Wales.

Indicating strong regional contrasts, the Land Registry marked prices down 3.3% in Wales and down 2.3% in the North East over last year but up 3.6% in the South East and up 6.8% in London.

In its regional analysis, Nationwide BS names East Anglia as the best performer with a 3.8% rise for 2010, followed by the outer Metropolitan area of London (2.8%), London (2.7%), south-west England and the South East (both 2.1%). By contrast, north-west England (-1.3%), Wales (-1.5%), Scotland (-2%), Yorkshire and Humberside (-3.4%) all recorded losses.