Surprise fall in UK house prices in August - Nationwide

British house prices fell 0.6 percent in August from July, when they had increased by 0.3 percent, a key survey by home-loans provider Nationwide showed on Thursday."UK house prices declined by 0.6 percent in August, although this does not change the picture of relative stability that has characterised the market over the past twelve months," said Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner in a statement.

For the first time in three years mortgage delinquencies on the rise.Most of my readers would not be surprised by this, but analysts were. Please consider Mortgage Payments Show Surprising Rise in DelinquenciesThe rate at which mortgage holders were late with their payments by 60 days or more rose in the June-to-September period for the first time since the last three months of 2009, according to TransUnion.

In real estate, it’s all good — the data, that is. Housing prices rose all over the country in September, according to two data series released this week. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite home price index, a widely watched national measure released today, showed home prices gaining 3.0% over a year ago. Just as importantly, that index marked its sixth straight month of price increases.