• Annual house price growth softens to 3.5%

• Prices fall 0.3% month-on-month in March

• Some convergence in regional price growth, with gap between weakest and strongest performing regions narrowest since 1978

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: "The annual rate of house price growth slowed in March to 3.5%, from 4.5% in February. House prices fell by 0.3% in the month, after taking account of seasonal effects.

"There was a mixed picture across the UK in Q1. Six regions saw the pace of house price growth accelerate, six saw a deceleration and one (East Midlands) recorded the same rate as the previous quarter. Interestingly, the spread in the annual rate of change between the weakest and strongest performing regions was at its narrowest since 1978 at 6.8 percentage points - the second smallest gap on record".