According to the Nationwide Building Society, house prices rose by 1.3% in July, the third month in a row that house prices have increased.

The month saw house prices rise by 1.3%, up from 1% in June, and annually the house price change reduced to -6.2%, up from -9.3% in June.

Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “The price of a typical house rose for the third consecutive month in July, increasing by 1.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The 3 month on 3 month rate of change – generally a smoother indicator of the near term trend – rose from 1.0% in June to 2.6% in July, the highest level since February 2007. House prices are still 6.2% lower than 12 months ago, but this represents another sharp improvement from the 9.3% year-on-year decline in June.

“Even if prices were to remain unchanged for the rest of 2009, the year-on-year rate would continue to improve since prices were falling very sharply in the second half of last year. For the first seven months of 2009 as a whole, prices have risen by a cumulative 1.3%, suggesting there is now a reasonable chance that prices could end the year slightly higher than where they started. Only a few months ago, such an outcome would have appeared unthinkable.

“House prices have been remarkably resilient so far this year, despite a recessionary economic background with sharply rising unemployment. Although this outcome has come as a surprise, it is not inconsistent with other economic indicators and asset prices, which have also bounced back somewhat after very severe declines around the turn of the year. During turbulent economic times, it is not unusual for economic indicators and asset prices to overshoot in one direction and then experience a correction in the other. In the specific case of the housing market, the very sharp decline in transactions over the course of 2008 produced a fairly large pool of prospective purchasers who were ready and able to buy in principle, but did not want to do so in the very uncertain conditions prevailing when the banking crisis was at its peak last autumn. When it became clear that government interventions around the globe had stabilised the banking system and prevented a worst-case economic outcome, some of this pent-up demand re-entered the market, with the added assistance of very low interest rates. Although the resulting rise in transactions has not been that dramatic, it has been enough to produce an upward bounce in prices because it coincided with very low levels of supply on the market.

“The improvement in housing market conditions, however, does not mean that the positive price trends of recent months can be extrapolated into the future in a straight line. If prices continue to increase at the rate of the last three months, they would soon rise to levels that would be noticeably out of line with earnings, rents and other fundamental determinants of housing valuations. One should also not underestimate the impact over time of high unemployment, which has implications both for buyer confidence and the financial pressure on existing owners to sell. It is unlikely, therefore, that price increases can be sustained for long at the very strong rate observed over the last few months.”

The latest figures from Land Registry show a modest increase in the monthly change in house prices in England and Wales. In June property prices increased by 0.1%, which is the first time the monthly change has been positive since January 2008.

London experienced the greatest monthly rise with a movement of 2 per cent, making it the region with the greatest monthly change and an average property value of £301,859.

All regions in England and Wales experienced a decrease in their average property values over the last 12 months. The annual drop of –14% took the average house price to £153,046.

The region with the most significant annual price decrease was the North East with a movement of -15.9%. Luton experienced the greatest annual price fall with a drop of -23%.

The most up-to-date figures available show that during April 2009 the number of completed house sales fell by 42% to 36,233 from 62,393 in April 2008.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) recently released figures, using data from the Financial Services Authority, showing that mortgage lending via Mortgage brokers/Financial Advisers, accounted for 64% (by value) of total mortgage lending in the first quarter of 2009, approximately the same proportion as the second half of 2008.

Since the start of the credit crunch, some lenders have focused their efforts on branch-based mortgage distribution, but the data highlights the reality that the industry as a whole continues to use Mortgage brokers/Financial Advisers as the main channel and that the evidence suggests homebuyers and remortgagors continue to value the expertise and service levels offered by the mortgage broker community.

The figures showed that 70% of first-time buyer loans, by volume, came through Mortgage brokers/Financial Advisers in the first quarter of 2009, up from 68% in the previous quarter, while home mover loans increased from 56% to 58% over the same period.

The latest statistics from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) published on 23 July, show that gross mortgage lending has increased in June to £7.9bn, up from £7.8bn in May.

The BBA said: “There has been a marginal increase in gross lending in June for the first time since April 2008, as increased approvals work through into lending data.”

The number of mortgages approved for house purchase were 35,235 approvals in June, up from 31,919 in May and up from the previous six-month average of 27,528.

Re-mortgaging approvals totalled 28,133 in June, compared with 25,825 in May marking an improvement on the previous six-month average of 27,744.

The BBA added: “The number of house purchase approvals and their average value has risen steadily in the last six months, reflecting some improvement in lenders ability to lend.

“Though numbers of approvals for remortgaging and other purposes are lower than a year earlier, the trend appears to be stabilising at current levels.”