House prices have fallen after Rightmove's survey of over 200,000 properties coming into the market this month found a reduction in average asking price to £236,332.

Their survey, one of the first onto the market for July shows that house prices growth continues to slow down.

Howard Archer one of IHS Global Insight's leading economists said that forecasts showed very little hope, "the whole tone on the Rightmove housing market survey suggests that house prices are set to struggle over the coming months." He warned, adding, "the Rightmove survey continues the recent stream of softer survey evidence and data on the housing market. Most notably, the Halifax reported that house prices fell 0.6% month-on-month in June."

Rightmove added that the number of unsold homes per agent was up 25 pct in the first half of this year as sellers outnumbered new mortgage approvals 5:2.

However, Ross Walker, RBS economist has added that 'house price' inflation still remains high against a 'backdrop of anaemic growth' suggesting that foreign 'cash rich' buyers are bolstering the price of housing.

Home Information Packs (HIPS) also known as 'Sellers Packs', which were abolished recently, eased conditions for sellers which Rightmove say has led to a 22 pct rise in homes flooding the market - leaving many more unsold.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, comments: "The number of new mortgages being approved each month is less than half the number of new sellers, with the imbalance being exacerbated by the increase of nearly 50% in the number of properties coming to market compared to a year ago."

"More aggressive pricing is now the order of the day, which means that conditions are ripe for a strong buyers' market in the second half of 2010. This is likely to see the average price gains of 7% for the first half of the year wiped out by year-end, in line with Rightmove's original forecast for the year of no net change in prices" he added.