House prices were pushed lower than a year ago for the first time in six months after a 1% dip in March compared with February, the Nationwide said.

The price of an average home was down 0.9% compared with a year earlier, at £163,327, the building society said. This was the biggest annual fall since June 2011. Nationwide said that the slowdown was to be expected owing to changes in stamp duty rules creating a "headwind" in an already difficult environment.

"In our view the challenging economic backdrop is likely to continue to act as a drag, with house prices moving sideways or modestly lower over the next 12 months," said Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist.

Nationwide also suggested that prices dipped in all but three regions of the UK in the first three months of the year compared with the previous quarter. There were differences in price changes in different areas of the country with the only rises seen in the north of England, Scotland, and Greater London. The biggest rise was in the north of England, up 0.6%, with the sharpest fall in Wales, down 3.1%.

On an annual basis, London saw the quickest house price growth, up 2.3%, with prices falling the most in Northern Ireland, down 8.6%.

However, Ashley Alexander, director of estate agent review website MeetMyAgent.co.uk, said: "House price indices are based on such a small number of sales at the moment that it is difficult to say with any degree of confidence that they provide a realistic measure of market conditions."