Nationwide this morning reported the biggest monthly drop in house prices since July 2012.

The lender said that the average house price is currently standing at £214,745 this month, down 0.5%  from £217,010 in July.

The fall brought annual house price inflation down to 2%, and Nationwide said it expects house prices to finish this year 1% up.

Meanwhile, mortgage lending fell to £3.2bn in July, the lowest figure for 15 months, according to the Bank of England.

Mortgage approvals for house purchase dipped to 65,000, while the number of approvals for remortgages fell 5.5% to 45,000.

Estate agent Jeremy Leaf said the figures were disappointing “in that they reflect a period when we would have expected a pick-up in the market over the spring buying season”.

John Eastgate, sales and marketing director at OneSavings Bank, said: “Buyer activity remains pretty depressed as the market comes to terms with economic uncertainty on top of existing obstacles of a lack of supply and increasing affordability challenges.”

Separately, NAEA Propertymark said that in July the number of properties available per estate agency branch rose for the third consecutive month, from an average in 33 in April, to 37 in May, to 39 in June, and to 41 last month.

Measured year on year, this is 17% up on July last year, when agent branches had an average of 35 properties.

While supply rose, demand shrank for a second month running, to 303 applicants per branch. However, the NAEA said this was entirely in line with seasonal trends.