One of the top 10 mortgage lenders in the UK has expressed it’s belief that the cuurent mini-boom in house prices will pitter out in a few months.

Northern Rock, who reported a 14.4% jump in pre-tax profits for the first half of the year said that over the medium term house prices are likely to grow at the same rate as wages.

Northern Rock is not the only financial institution to voice concern. So far this year, there has been warnings from the Halifax, Nationwide and Rightmove about house price growth this year.

Northern Rock admitted that house prices grew during the first half at a faster rate than it had predicted. Thanks in part by the return to the market of first-time buyers, the bank said it expects to see more sales completed this year than in 2005.

“Increased levels of housing transactions together with above anticipated levels of house price increases, skewed by central London, contributed to increases in gross residential lending of 27% and net residential lending of 25% in the first five months of the year,” Northern Rock said.