House prices jumped a "surprising" 1.3% in August, the Nationwide building society has said.

It was the biggest monthly rise since January 2010 and left the average UK house price at £164,729.

It means prices are only 0.7% lower than a year ago, despite the recession and continued mortgage rationing.

However, the society's chief economist, Robert Gardner, warned that "we should never read too much into one month's data".

"Nevertheless, the fact that the annual pace of house price decline moderat...

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