The average house price in March stood at £178,007 across England and Wales – a monthly drop of 0.8%.

According to the Land Registry, annual house price inflation was 5.3% in March.

The survey also showed a drop in transactions. From October to January – the latest period for which data is available – there were 71,090 sales on average per month, down from 76,056 for the same period the year before.

In January itself, there were just 53,169 transactions, 18% down on the figure of 65,175 for January 2014.

Transactions fell in every single price bracket.

Separately, LSL – parent company of Your Move and Reeds Rains – reports today that first-time buyer numbers dropped to 60,900 in the first quarter of this year. In the same period last year, there were 79,900 first-time buyers.

Although numbers did pick up in March to 23,000 they were still 3.7% lower than March 2014.