House prices have risen for the third time in the last four months, the Nationwide has said.
Property prices rose by 0.9% in June with the average home costing £156,442, down 9.3% a year ago.
The mortage lender said a comparison of prices taken over a three-month period showed the first rise in prices since December 2007.
Nationwide's chief economist Martin Gahbauer said: "The three month on three month rate of change - a smoother indicator of the short-term price trend - turned positive for the first time since December 2007 to stand at 0.9%, up from minus 0.4% in May."
The figure echoes some other recent signs that the UK housing market is stabilising.
But there are warnings the recent improvement is unlikely to mark the beginning of a sustained recovery.
Nationwide said that while the rises seen since March were likely to be more than just "statistical noise", they were taking place against a backdrop of very low activity.
The number of mortgages being approved for house purchase is still 55% below its long-term average despite recent rises.
"While it is encouraging to see that prices are no longer seeing steep falls, there are still many obstacles in the way of a genuine and sustainable price recovery," Mr Gahbauer said.
"To begin with, abnormally low supply levels are unlikely to last forever, as the recent price increases should make previously hesitant sellers feel more confident about marketing their properties."
Figures released by the Bank of England showed that the number of mortgages approved for house purchase had levelled out at around 43,000 during May.
Economists said the figure, which was below their expectations, highlighted the current fragile state of the housing market.
They warned that house prices still had further to fall due to rising unemployment and ongoing problems in the mortgage market.
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