British house price growth softens in August

 British house prices increased by 0.3 percent on a monthly basis in August, according to Nationwide, one of the country's largest mortgage providers.

Annual house price growth edged down to 3.2 percent from 3.5 percent in July, the weakest since June 2013, said Nationwide in its monthly house price report published on Thursday.

The average house price stood at 195,279 pounds (about 302,538 U.S. dollars) before being seasonally adjusted, it added.

Market analyst believed a number of factors suggested that price growth may well pick up a little over the remainder of the year.

"With supply conditions still tight, as well as economic and mortgage market conditions supporting demand, we think annual price growth will end the year a little stronger than it is at present," said Matthew Pointon, property economist of the Capital Economics.