Mortgage lender says housing market is cooling despite 1.4% increase last month.

House prices jumped 1.4% in September according to the Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender.

The rise followed a fall of 0.6% in August. The bank said that the bounceback was not unusual for this time of year as many buyers returned to the market after a summer break.

Despite the rise Halifax said that the market had lost some momentum, which was borne out by rival bank Nationwide’s survey last week which said house prices only rose by 0.2% in September.

Halifax said that the increase in prices during the third quarter was the smallest since the first quarter of 2001.

On Wednesday the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee begins a two-day meeting to decide the next move for interest rates. There have been five changes since November.