LONDON (AP) — Britain's retailers saw sales fall again in February partly as a result of heavy snow across large areas of the country that kept potential consumers stuck indoors and the stores bringing an end to their massive discounting over the New Year period, a leading industry lobby group reported.

In its monthly assessment of the sector, the British Retail Consortium said like-for-like sales — those that exclude new stores and space — fell by 1.8 percent in February from the year before, more than offsetting January's surprise 1.1 percent increase. Like-for-like sales have fallen for ten of the last twelve months.

The BRC also said that total sales, which do include new stores and space, were 0.1 percent higher in the year to February, way down on January's equivalent 3.2 percent increase.

"It's now clear we were right to fear January's surprise year-on-year sales rise was just a discount-driven blip," said Stephen Robertson, the consortium's director-general.

"Early February snow didn't help but customers and retailers' difficulties run deeper," he added.

Elsewhere in a closely watched survey of the housing sector, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that buyer interest continued to increase in February amid falling house prices and lower borrowing costs but the lack of mortgage finance available meant that sales continued to languish.

Interest was up for the fourth consecutive month and was most evident in London, it said.