Those property market professionals who had started thinking that market downturn has passed away received unexpected cold shower when most recent market figures revealed that the price of a property put up for sale so far this month has been a little bit lower than in May.

Average asking prices of properties, which rose 2.4 % in May, dropped 0.4 % this month.

Asking prices in the present year got a boost due to the lack of new property sellers, although this year property sellers witnessed a wide gap between their aspirations and actual selling prices.

Property dealings have already picked up from last year's record lows, boosted by lower mortgage interest rates. However, the recovery remained unreliable.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove (the online estate agency firm), said, "While conditions are much improved on the darkest days of last year, we are now starting to see some big distortions and wild swings due to the combined effect of the recession and restricted mortgage availability."

According to Rightmove, asking prices of property in the North of England region witnessed a drop of an annual 10.5 % in June while those in Greater London dropped 0.5%.