According to the Nationwide House Price Index the cost of the average property increased 0.1 per cent. Having said that, when taken over the three month period, house prices fell by 0.9 per cent. This is the first time prices have fallen since November last year.
Martin Gahbaurer, chief economist at the Nationwide building society told the Financial Times: "September proved to be an uneventful month for house prices... "Nonetheless, buyers appear to have a slightly better hand than sellers at the moment, as the market continues to absorb the recent increase in property for sale."
The statistics give a glimmer of hope to those who feared the housing market would plummet, especially when you consider that at one point during 2008 the three month comparison rate of change actually fell by 5.1 per cent.
Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, again stressed that a number of factors over the coming months would have a bearing on house prices. This includes unemployment and the fear of it, difficulty obtaining a mortgage without a large deposit or perfect credit history, wages unlikely to increase and the rising cost of living.
He added: "Low interest rates and the current stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers on all properties costing up to £250,000 only partially offset these other adverse factors."
The majority of analysts predict that the UK economy will slow down next year due to local authority cut backs and rises in VAT.
Although the number of people being approved for a mortgage has plummeted to a ten-year low, there has been a slight increase in the number of people re-mortgaging - 28,042 home owners were given a loan after switching to a new deal.
Meanwhile, the number of mortgage repossessions last year fell by 34 per cent on the previous 12 months to 94,000.
The reduction has been attributed to government guidelines advising banks to consider alternative payment options before issuing legal proceedings. Introduced in November 2008 the new rules forced banks to reveal why they were rejecting repayment proposals from homeowners. Low interest rates were believed to be another reason for the reduction.
Prior to the guidelines repossessions in court had grown by 24 per cent from 2005.
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