House prices in the UK have experienced a slight drop in the early summer.

Latest figures from Halifax show that house prices in the UK have fallen slightly at the start of summer compared with prices at the beginning of the year.

The Halifax house price index published today (8 July) has shown that the housing market has experienced a slight dip of 0.6% in June compared with May, which follows a fall of 0.5% in that month. The average price of a home in the UK is now £166,203.

The results show that UK prices had fallen by 0.1% in the second quarter of the year compared with the first.

Martin Ellis, Halifax Housing Economist, commented: “House prices fell by 0.6% in June following a similar decline in May. Prices in the April to June quarter were largely unchanged compared with the first three months of the year.

“This continued the slowdown in house price growth since the beginning of the year following the moderate recovery in prices during much of 2009. The pattern is in line with our view that house prices will be broadly unchanged over 2010 as a whole.”

According to Halifax, a shortage of properties that led to an imbalance between supply and demand was a major contributor to house prices rising last year. Houses coming onto the market this year have helped to level the imbalance and led to the fall in house prices.

However, low interest rates continue to support the housing market and make purchasing a property reasonably affordable.

Prices are now 7.5% higher than the lowest level experienced in April 2009, despite the slight decline over recent months.