There was further evidence that the UK housing market is picking up strongly as prices rose well above expectations in July, the country's leading building society said today. In its monthly survey, the Nationwide said house prices rose by 0.8 pct in July from June. On a year-on-year basis, prices rose by 5.9 pct, the biggest annual gain since April 2005. The increases were well above analysts' expectations of a 0.4 pct monthly rise for a 5.4 pct annual gain. In June, prices rose by 0.3 and 5.0 pct respectively. Nationwide noted that July's annual gain is more than double that of the same time last year when prices were increasing at an annual rate of just 2.6 pct. However, the strong rate of annual house price growth reflects the weak patch in prices this time last year, it said. The average house price now stands at 167,733 stg, 9,385 stg more than at the same time last year. The three monthly rate of growth has "picked up slightly" compared with last month, but "remains on a fairly benign trend", Nationwide said. "Indicators of market activity suggest that housing market demand remains fairly buoyant," said Nationwide economist Fionnuala Earley.