This was an increase of 13.8% compared with September, which was a slow month in the UK housing market.

BBC: Positive year ahead for UK housing market, says CML

At the end of the 1980s, there was a boom in both the UK housing market and stock market, prompting those selling endowment mortgages to make very high predictions of investment growth in endowment savings plans.

BBC: Interest-only mortgage shortfall 'big problem' for NI

He said the UK housing market was "unusual in that there is no institutional sector in building homes for rent to get a long term rental income".

BBC: UK private rental sector must grow, says Montague report

Conservative ministers in the UK government have accused the Labour administration in Cardiff of "destroying the housing market".

BBC: Builders fear waste plans will backfire and harm industry

The minister also answered a number of other questions on fuel poverty, the UK Government energy strategy and the delivery of low-cost market housing in Wales.

BBC: Environment questions

National Statistician Jil Matheson said that the absence of a UK-wide official private rental index was a "key gap" in data on the housing market.

BBC: Lettings boards

"The uncertainty created in the housing market by the increasingly turbulent and uncertain outlook in financial markets has had a negative impact on all our regions across the UK, " it added.

BBC: Persimmon lowers housing forecast

The world downturn will be led by problems in the US housing market, but the IMF warns that excessive house price inflation in some European countries, including Spain, Ireland and the UK, has made them more vulnerable to a slowdown.

BBC: IMF slashes world growth forecast