House prices in the three months from May to July were 0.5% higher than in the previous three months, the Halifax has announced.
According to its house price index, this is the first increase in this measure of the underlying trend since May 2010 (0.1%).
The average UK house price in July was marginally higher (0.7%) than in December 2010 on a seasonally adjusted basis, at £163,981.
On an annual basis, prices in July were 2.6% lower as measured by the average for the three months to July against the same period a year earlier. This was the second successive improvement in the annual rate from a low of -4.2% in May.
Martin Ellis, housing economist, said: “Overall
