British house prices fell for a second consecutive month in May, mortgage lender Halifax said today, in a further sign the recent property market recovery is losing steam.
Halifax said house prices fell by 0.4% in May after April's 0.1% decline, confounding analysts who had forecast a modest increase.
But prices are still 6.9% higher in the three months to May than the same time a year ago - the fastest rise on this measure since October 2007 - and have risen 8.3% since April 2009.
Halifax said the average house price last month was £167,570 sterling, 16% below its August 2007 peak.
It noted that more property was coming onto the market and reiterated its forecast for flat house price growth over 2010 as a whole.
'The mixed pattern of monthly price rises and falls so far this year is consistent with a slowing market and is in line with our view that house prices will be flat during 2010 as a whole,' said Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis.
Figures from rival mortgage lender Nationwide earlier this week painted a firmer picture, but also suggested price gains were slowing. According to Nationwide, prices rose by 0.5% in May, half the rate of the previous two months.
