House prices in Britain climbed 0.9 percent in April, the fastest pace since December, Nationwide said on Thursday.

Demand in the housing market is resilient despite rising borrowing and living costs, said the mortgage lender.

The annual rate stood at 10.2 percent, up from 9.3 percent last month, bringing the average house price to 180,314 pounds.

The Bank of England, having raised rates three times since August to 5.25 percent, is trying to cool inflation down after it was forced to write to Chancellor Gordon Brown explaining why it had hit 3.1 percent, according to Sky News.

Nationwide said the trend in price growth appears to show some signs of cooling in the housing market, with prices rising 2 percent between February and April.

Source: Xinhua