According to property tracking website Rightmove, U.K. house prices rose 0.5% in January, after a 1.1% drop in December.

"Encouragingly for first-time buyers there's more fresh choice with more property coming to market in their target sector. With their asking prices pretty much the same as a month ago, perhaps the knock-on effects of the more punitive landlord tax regime have arrived early and they now face a dilemma over whether to buy now or wait to see if prices drop in this sector over the next few months," Rightmove director and housing market analyst, Miles Shipside, said.

On a yearly basis, house prices in the U.K. climbed 6.5% in January, after a 7.4% increase in December.