Halifax has reported three house price falls in the past four months. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
House prices increased by 0.6% in July, reversing the 0.6% fall seen in June, according to the latest house price survey from Halifax. It comes hot on the heels of Nationwide's report showing house prices fell by 0.5% in July, continuing the stream of mixed messages on the housing market seen throughout the year.
Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: "Overall, there has been little change in prices during 2010 so far. The mixed pattern of monthly rises and falls over the first seven months of the year is consistent with a slowing market. It is also in line with our view that house prices will be broadly unchanged over 2010 as a whole."
The year-on-year increase in house prices fell to 4.9% in the three months to July from 6.3% in May and a peak of 6.9% in April.
The Halifax figures also show the average UK property is now worth £167,425, compared to Nationwide's average value of 169,347.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "House prices are notoriously volatile on a month-to-month basis, and can also be from survey to survey. So it is best not to attach too much importance to one piece of data.
"As such, the 0.6% rise reported by the Halifax in July does not fundamentally alter our view that house prices will ease back over the latter months of 2010 and very likely soften modestly further in 2011."
Russell Quirk from online estate agency emoov.co.uk went further: "The indices are divided, as are the experts. The Centre for Economics and Business Research said this week that prices will remain firm and end up slightly at the end of 2010, while the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said they will be down come the end of the year. With house prices it is a case of the blind leading the blind."
Different indices generate contradictory data due to the way they are calculated and the different data on which they base their findings. The Land Registry data is a record of residential property transactions from across the whole of England and Wales and is based on completed sales – and as such is deemed one of the most accurate. Halifax and Nationwide use their own mortgage approvals data as an indicator of market sentiment and values, but neither can lay claim to the entire market.
According to the House prices blog, Halifax has an advantage over Nationwide because it covers a larger share of the mortgage market, while Nationwide changes its regional weighting every year in order to prevent the index creating a regional bias.
David Smith, senior partner at property consultancy at Carter Jonas, said we are seeing the formation of a two-tier market. "At the top end of the market demand is still very strong and if anything prices are still rising," he said. "At the lower end of the market, concerns over the economy and difficulties securing mortgage finance are far more material."
Halifax has reported three house price falls in the past four months, but most commentators are not predicting a crash. "Recent price volatility is not the beginning of a sharp decline, but rather a reaction to the price rises of the past year, constrained mortgage finance, increased supply and a still uncertain economy," Smith said.
The British bank Halifax has announced that UK house prices rose 0.6% in July, reversing a 0.6% in June.

Halifax, a bank in the United Kingdom, has announced that house prices in the country rose 0.6% during the month of July 2010, according to a survey of house prices made by the mortgage provider. House prices fell 0.6% over the course of June 2010.

Halifax economist Martin Ellis commented: "House prices increased by 0.6 percent in July, reversing the fall in June." He also stated: "Overall, there has been little change in prices during 2010 so far. The mixed pattern of monthly rises and falls over the first seven months of the year is consistent with a slowing market. It is also in line with our view that house prices will be broadly unchanged over 2010 as a whole."

Statistics from Halifax also reveal that the average price of a house in the UK is currently £167,425 (US$266,366, €201,849, A$291,950, C$273,044). This figure is 16% less than the summit witnessed in August 2007.