House prices fall 0.5% in July

Annual property price growth also fell back from 8.7% to 6.6%, largely due to a shortage of buyers, according to Nationwide. Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's chief economist, says: "The 3 month on 3 month rate of change - a smoother indicator of the near term price trend - fell from 1.7% in June to 1.3% in July, significantly below the peak of 4.0% reached in September 2009." He said the healthy recovery in 2009 has not been consolidated this year. "Despite the introduction of a second stamp duty holiday for the vast majority of first time buyers and record low interest rates, the num...