House asking prices fell a non-seasonally adjusted two per cent in the five weeks to mid-August, property website Rightmove says, supporting a growing view that the market may now be cooling.

Interest rates, which have risen 1.25 percentage points to 4.75 per cent since November, were blamed for pushing average asking prices down to 192,335 pounds on August 14 from 196,198 pounds on July 10.

The residential property market is a key economic indicator in a country where two-thirds of people own their home.

"The Bank of England can't raise the cost of borrowing five times in nine months without something happening," Rightmove commercial director Miles Shipside said today.

"While it took much longer than people expected, it's now hitting the housing market at the sharp end -- and asking prices have been declining in each of the last five weeks."

The Bank of England, which in recent months had expressed concern about runaway house price inflation, last week said there were tentative signs of a slowdown, after a number of surveys pointed to this.

However, the Rightmove figures may exaggerate the degree of cooling in prices as August is usually a quiet period for the market. Rightmove reported house price inflation easing sharply in July and August last year, only to take off again months later.

Despite the latest falls, house prices were still up 15.7 per cent year-on-year, Rightmove said.

The report adds to an interim survey Rightmove published two weeks ago, which showed prices down 0.5 per cent in the three weeks to end-July.-Reuters