Sluggish house sales in February have been reported by haart.

Based on its own transaction data, it estimates that in total there were 50,124 exchanges last month – down 7.8% on January and a fall of 14.1% on February last year.

Buyer demand was virtually static in comparison with January, but showed a drop of 15.2% on February a year ago.

Haart puts the average UK house price at £204,355, up 6.8% on February last year. London house prices averaged £466,990 – down 1% on January and a fall of 1.2% on February 2014.

Other new data, from tenancy referencing firm HomeLet, shows rent rises for newly agreed tenancies across seven out of ten regions.

However, London rents on new tenancies have been static for the three months to February.

Average rent in the UK for a new tenancy is now £899, or £724 excluding Greater London.

Although rents in London have been static, HomeLet says that a recent survey it conducted with London agents found that eight in ten are reporting that there are more tenants than properties available.