UK house prices held flat in July, according to the latest lender-derived indices, as escalating conflict between Israel and Iran unsettled financial markets and dampened buyer confidence just as the traditional summer selling season should have been gathering pace. The stagnation follows a stretch of modest but consistent growth through the spring, and marks a notable pause at a moment when many analysts had expected the market to build momentum after the Bank of England's gradual run of interest rate cuts began feeding through to mortgage pricing.