Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

UK house prices rose 1.4% month-on-month and 10.2% year-on-year in July, Halifax announced on Wednesday.In the three months to July, prices were 3.6% higher than the previous quarter, the lender added. The lender reported that the average house price was £186,322 in July, up over £3,000 from the previous month and the highest level since April 2008.The latest figures continue the erratic pattern Halifax had reported over the last couple of months. In June the group had announced that house prices had dipped 0.4% month-on-month, after a 4% increase in May.The report contrasts with data from the Nationwide, which suggests house prices rose of just 0.1% month-on-month in July, the smallest increase since April last year, while annual house price inflation fell from 11.8% to 10.6%.The Bank of England said mortgage applications reached a four-month high of 67,196 in June, which, according to IHS Economics & Country Risk, suggests lenders are increasingly adapting to the new Mortgage Market Review (MMR) regulations that came into effect at the end of April.IHS said it saw "house prices rising by around 6% overall in 2015". "Slowly rising interest rates, more stretched affordability ratios and tighter mortgage lending as a consequence of the MMR and the Bank of England's macroprudential measures announced in June are seen having some restraint on the housing market in 2015," said IHS chief UK and European economist, Howard Archer. "More houses will come on to the market. However, appreciable support to housing market activity and prices is likely to come from higher employment and improving earnings growth. "In addition, there will still be a relative lack of available properties, which remains a long-term structural problem exerting upward pressure on house prices."IHS added it expected house prices to rise about 3% over the second half of 2014, just a day after the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) warned that the Bank of England might raise interest rates as soon as February.DC