House prices dipped between May and June, according to Halifax, but its annual figures have been called into question again.

The lender’s House Price Index for last month suggests average growth in property prices was up 5.7% to £237,110.

This suggests average prices have been rising annually for the past three months.

Halifax’s data has come under scrutiny after it reported a 5.9% monthly increase in February and then a 5% annual boost in April and a 5.2% increase in May.

In contrast, Nationwide’s house price data last week suggested annual growth was up just 0.5% for June 2019.

Halifax said the high annual figure was due to a particularly low growth rate that was recorded in June 2018.

Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, said: “More generally the housing market is displaying a reasonable degree of resilience in the face of political and economic uncertainty. Recent industry figures show demand looking slightly more stable, with mortgage approvals ticking along just above the long-term average.

“One of the major restraining factors on the volume of transactions in the market continues to be the very low level of stock for sale.

“With the ongoing lack of clarity around Brexit, people will be looking for more certainty in the coming months, both to encourage them to list their property and to create the confidence needed to encourage buyers.

“Of course, the likelihood of continued historically low mortgage rates will underpin prices in the near term.”

Commenting on the figures, Mike Scott, chief property analyst at Yopa, said: “The Halifax House Price Index for June shows a small fall of 0.3% in the month, but it is still out of line with most other measures of house prices in showing a 5.7% increase since June last year.

“This may in part be due to the Halifax understating the rate of growth in the second quarter of last year, leaving it with some catching up to do.

“We expect that the Halifax figure for the annual rate of house price growth will remain significantly higher than other reports until the second quarter of next year, when it will return to normal.

“The monthly and quarterly figures are more reliable, and confirm the price slowdown that we have seen in other reports.

“However, they also report that demand is holding up and there is a shortage of homes for sale, so it is unlikely that national average house prices will fall significantly.”