LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - British house prices unexpectedly dropped for a second month in a row in July, pushing the annual growth rate to its lowest since March, figures from mortgage lender Halifax showed on Wednesday.
Halifax said house prices fell 0.2% on the month, compared with economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll for a 0.3% rise, while the annual growth rate dropped to 4.1% from 5.7%.
Halifax’s annual growth rates remain elevated compared with other measures of British house prices — which point to a broadly flat picture — and Halifax said its annual figures were boosted by weak prices a year earlier. (Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Catherine Evans)