There was more evidence of the ”green shoots” of recovery this week as the Nationwide building society published its latest house price survey.

According to the figures, the average price of a property in the UK rose by 1.3 per cent through the month of July, making this the third consecutive month of positive movement in the housing market,  with a 1 per cent increase in prices during June and a 1.3 per cent increase in May this year. The average price of a house is still 6.2 per cent lower than it was at the same time last year, however this figure stood at a drop of 9.3 per cent for the previous month.

Whilst this is good news for the economy and those individuals who already own their own home, many of whom were starting to worry about negative equity on their property against their homeowner loan, the news is not so good for those looking to buy in the near future, particularly first time buyers who will now need to find an even larger deposit and loan to be able to buy a house.

As lenders remain extremely cautious about offering new homeowner loans, it is undoubtedly a frustrating time for first time buyers who may be unable to obtain the loan they require due to a lack of income, or sufficient deposit to meet lenders’ currently low loan to value criteria and many may be seeing homeownership slipping out of their financial reach.

Peter Rollings of Marsh & Parsons estate agents commented on the increase in prices, he said “House prices have rebounded faster than anyone expected, owing to the chronically short levels of supply on the market. It’s a classic case of supply and demand forces at work. But, the threat of unemployment will not go away and as the shortage of supply begins to ease in the Autumn, house prices will return to a more modest rate of growth for the remainder of the year.”