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A four-month run of rising asking prices ended in June - as homeowners trimmed the amount they put their properties on the market for, research has showed.

The average dipped by 0.4% during the five weeks to June 13 to £226,436, according to property website Rightmove.

The group said asking prices were still 6% higher than in January, with June's drop only partially offsetting the 2.4% jump seen in May.

The average home in England and Wales now costs only 5.5% less than it did in June last year, down from a 6.2% difference in May.

But, despite the improvement in prices since the beginning of the year and an influx of potential buyers, Rightmove warned the ongoing mortgage shortage would continue to create problems.

There has been a run of positive data on the housing market in recent weeks, with increased buyer enquiries showing signs of translating into sales.

Both Halifax and Nationwide also reported house prices rises during May.

But Rightmove's Miles Shipside said: "It's a mistake to confuse the upturn in enquiries and sales with a return to a more normal market.

"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 effects of recession and restricted mortgage availability."

The group said there continued to be a shortage of new homes being put on the market, despite a 10% increase in sellers during the month.

It said there was evidence of a north/south divide developing, with the shortage of new properties most acute in the South East, South West, East Anglia and Greater London, with seller numbers 45% lower than during 2008.

At the same time, the south is seeing a greater pick up in activity, as it has a higher concentration of the equity-rich buyers currently favoured by lenders.

The group said the combination of having more buyers but fewer homes for sale suggested that there would be a speedier price recovery in the south than in the north.

By contrast, the number of sellers in the North is only 34% lower than in 2008, which is helping to keep prices depressed.

The average selling price in the North is 10.5% lower than 12 months ago, compared with a year-on-year drop of only 0.5% in Greater London.