House price growth is showing "tentative signs of moderation", according to the UK's second biggest mortgage lender.

Nationwide said house price inflation was slowing, on both a monthly and quarterly basis. However, when measured annually, price growth accelerated in March, with prices up 9.5% from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the gap between house prices in London and the rest of the UK has reached a record. Average values in the capital are now more than double those in the rest of the UK, at £362,699.

The overall average house value in the UK now stands at £180,264, the highest since January 2008, although that figure is still 3% below the 2007 house price peak.

Although March saw the 15th successive monthly increase in prices, the rate of increase is slowing. Prices rose 0.4% last month, the Nationwide said, compared with a 0.7% increase in February. In the three months to March, prices rose by an average of 2.6%, down from a 3% rise in the three months to February.

Further evidence of a slowdown came from the Bank of England this week, which reported a sharp fall in the number of mortgage approvals in February, following an unusually active January.

"There are some tentative signs of moderation," said Nationwide's chief economist, Robert Gardner.

However, he added that annual price growth was "continuing to run at a robust pace" and that low mortgage rates and an improved economic outlook meant the housing market recovery was now "firmly established"