British house price growth cooled for a fourth straight month in January, according to a new report, and surveyors expect prices to fall over the coming months. The study from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed that a balance of 21pc of surveyors reported higher prices rather than lower ones in January, a plunge from 41pc in December, and well off a recent peak of 61pc last summer. Prices in London and the southeast, adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, fell for the first time since November 2001, RICs said. The Bank of England, which held off cutting interest rates for 14 months on concern for an overheating the housing market, said two weeks ago that there were now "some indications that consumption growth was slowing and that house price inflation was beginning to ease". The bank cut rates by 0.25pc to 3.75pc on 6 February. The RICS report said the slowdown in house price rises was widespread, with only 29pc of surveyors reporting price rises during the past month. More than half of the respondents said prices were stable while 14pc said prices fell.// www.fxcentre.com