House prices on the fall, says the Halifax

The cost of housing across the UK has been a difficult issue of late, with many lenders reporting that the price and value of houses that its customers are selling in Britain's property market is dropping.

The latest of these, Halifax, has released new figures which back up what has been reported by its rivals in recent weeks.

Last week, it was reported by Nationwide that the price of houses in the UK has fallen for four out of the last five months, which is making it difficult for people in the country to be able to make a profit from selling, and is dropping the number of transactions as a result.

And now the Halifax has reported that its latest data has shown that house prices were falling in July. It said that the price of houses sold throughout the month was 0.6 per cent lower than in June. This meant that the cost of buying properties for sale stayed pretty much static over the quarter comprising the three months until the end of July.

It also represented a drop of 0.6 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Martin Ellis, housing economist, said that this trend was one which should remain pretty much the same throughout the rest of 2012 unless there is a sizeable change in conditions.

"At a national level, house prices have been very stable over the past year or so. This can largely be explained by the static nature of supply and demand conditions during this period. Looking forward, we expect little change in prices over the remainder of 2012 so long as the economic climate in the UK does not worsen substantially."

Some of the problems with the market for homes for sale has come from the rise in popularity in the rental homes market. LSL Property Services has recently reported that demand is so high that rental costs in July were just £2 lower than the record price.

This high demand in one sector can drive it down in the other.