LONDON, April 5 (Xinhuanet) -- British house prices rose slightly by 0.5 percent in March, taking the annual price inflation to 9.7 percent, less than 10 percent for the first time in 4 years, according to British largest mortgage lender Tuesday.

    Halifax said the figure marked a continuation of slowing trend in the housing market in the country and showed the market was nowstabilizing.

    The figure contrasts with a 0.5 percent fall reported by the mortgage lender for February and is different from the March figures reported by the country's second largest mortgage lender Nationwide which showed 0.6 percent fall during the month.

    Earlier this month, Nationwide said that house prices were 7.9 percent higher in March than a year ago.

    The figures from different mortgage lenders in the country showed mixed picture of the housing market although analysts said the housing market was in the middle of a "soft landing."

    Martin Ellis, Halifax's chief economist, said "the picture on amonth-on-month basis remains mixed with four rises and four falls in the past eight months."

    But he added that "overall, there has been virtually no change in UK house prices since last September" and "there are increasingsigns that activity levels are now stabilizing and house prices are now broadly static at a national level." Enditem