The house price index is based on month-on-month figures from The Nationwide and Rightmove. Both figures will compare the price index in August against the previous month of July. It will also provide an overview of the performance during August in comparison to the same time last year.

The Nationwide house price index fell for the second consecutive month by 0.9% with figures now showing that the average home in the UK is now worth £166,507. This is the first time since February 2009 that prices have fallen on two consecutive months. Year on year figures still show an improvement against 2009 with prices 3.9% higher than the same time last year with the average house then costing just £160,224.

The Nationwide explain that there has been a sudden increase in sellers coming to market and as sellers have returned to the market, potential buyers have a greater selection of properties to choose from and more bargaining power which will bid down asking prices. House prices are still predicted to fall further with The Nationwide forecasting that at the end of the year house prices are going to be 5% lower than they ended in 2009 as they believe that house prices are overvalued.

According to Rightmove, in August sellers dropped asking prices by 1.4% (£4,091) with the average property asking price now £232,241. Despite the fall, the average asking price of a property is 4.3% higher than the same time last year and with record number of page views on the Rightmove website in August this year showing that potential buyer interest still remains high.

Rightmove say that August will traditionally see price falls with people holidaying and away during the summer. Rightmove continued by saying that sellers will only come to market in August if they really need to sell and with this need to sell would reduce asking prices. Despite this, there is still a real interest in the market from potential buyers as page views on the 10th August reached record level high's with 25,413,442 views during that day.

The figures for both The Nationwide and Rightmove differ as The Nationwide is based on mortgage approvals and Rightmove on asking prices. However, both show similar trends this month, of falls of 0.6% and 0.5%.

The figures for both The Nationwide and Rightmove differ as The Nationwide is based on mortgage approvals and Rightmove on asking prices. However, both show similar trends this month with month-on-month falls. They also suggest that the remainder of 2010 could possibly see asking prices and house prices fall even further throughout autumn and winter. But looking at prices as they stand now, figures are still higher than 2009 for both The Nationwide and Rightmove.

¹The Nationwide results are compiled based on mortgage approvals of loans agreed by The Nationwide Building Society
²Rightmove results are compiled from asking prices of properties as they come to market via Rightmove's member estate agents
Source: The Nationwide, Rightmove