Asking prices are falling this month as sellers drop prices to more realistic levels in the traditional housing market summer lull, according to the latest index from property website Rightmove.

The UK Government must step up its pressure on lenders if it wants to free the market from its "heavy constraints", the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) says.

The head of the FSA, Hector Sants, says politicians must take responsibility for setting pay caps if they deem them "morally" necessary, and that not only bankers should be subject to such restrictions, reports the Telegraph.

House prices rose by an average 2.6% in the first six months of the year but are still almost 11% down on a year ago, latest figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) suggest.

Lending on shared ownership properties accounted for 33% of business at Cheshire Mortgage Corporation (CMC) in Q2 2009, up by 16% on the same period for 2008.

The number of unemployed people increased by 220,000 over Q2 to reach 2.43 million, its highest level since 1995, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Investors are braced for their dividend income to fall by 13% this year as Britain's quoted companies horde cash to ride out the recession, reports the Guardian.

Average LTVs for residential mortgages fell by 2% to 67% in Q2 2009 as banks remained cautious about lending, according to research by the Mortgage Advice Bureau.

Signs of revived interest in the housing market comes in the July survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The number of mortgages granted in June was up 23% from the month before, new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) shows.