THE latest reports have indicated house buyers shrugged off last month's quarter per cent rise.

The Monetary Policy Committee, the Bank of England's rate-setting panel, will announce at midday today whether it will raise interest rates again.

Its deliberations will have been swayed by reports from the Halifax that house prices rose another one per cent in November, despite the first rise in interest rates for almost four years.

The Halifax said annual house price inflation was 14.1 per cent higher than a year earlier, although this was down on the 16.7 per cent reported a month ago.

Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis said the decline brought the annual rate increase closer to the long-term average of eight per cent.

He added: "The gradual easing in house price growth reflects a market returning to average house price rises after two years of exceptional increases."

Britain's biggest mortgage lender said the average price of a property now stood at £139,405.

Rival lender Nationwide recently put November's price growth at 1.2 per cent after a two per cent gain in October.

It said last month's increase in the Bank of England base rate had been offset by favourable underlying economic conditions, while mortgage rates were still historically low and employment high.