By Andy Bruce LONDON (Reuters) - British house prices rose more rapidly than expected on the month in September, although the market looks likely to moderate heading into next year, a survey from mortgage lender Halifax showed on Wednesday.
House prices rose 0.6 percent last month, beating a Reuters poll forecast for a 0.2 percent upturn, and compared with no growth in August.
In the three months to September, house prices rose 9.6 percent on an annual basis, down slightly from 9.7 percent during the three months to August.
Halifax said the rapid rise in house prices in some parts of Britain, weak wage growth and the possibility of interest rate hikes over the coming months appeared to have tempered demand.
"Annual house price inflation may have peaked around 10 percent," said Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax.
"A moderation in growth looks likely during the remainder of 2014 and into next year as supply and demand become increasingly better balanced."
Halifax said the price of an average house in Britain now stands at 187,188 pounds.
Last week Bank of England data showed mortgage lending in August fell to a three-month low, and major mortgage lender Nationwide reported that house prices fell in September - the first month-on-month drop in 17 months.
But a BoE survey of lenders showed they expected mortgage lending to bounce back sharply in the final three months of 2014 after a recent slowdown.
A Reuters poll of economists showed BoE interest rates are likely to rise from record lows early next year as Britain's economy outpaces its peers in Europe.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Crispian Balmer)