House prices slightly up in UK

House prices in the UK showed a slight increase last month yet they are unlikely to move much over the rest of this year, the Halifax bank said Thursday. Prices rose by 0.5 percent month-on-month across the UK in May, following a 2.3 percent monthly fall in April, to reach 160,941 pounds on average, the bank added in a new survey. In the three months to May, house prices were 0.8 percent higher than between December 2011 and February this year, marking the biggest increase over three months since last August. Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis said that while there has been a "modest improvement" in prices recently, they are still very similar to those a year ago when they were 0.1% lower. He said "we expect this situation to continue, with prices likely to still be around today's levels at the end of 2012 as the ongoing tough economic environment constrains housing demand."