Britain's housing market just had its busiest August since the credit crunch

If you're looking to buy a house this month, you picked the wrong August.

House prices fell a measly 0.8% so far this month - the least in August since 2007.

This is down from a 2% discount last year, according to figures from Rightmove.

The month is traditionally a time for homebuyers to find a bargain. Most of their competition are on holiday and sellers with houses on the market in August are usually the ones most desperate to shift their properties. But not this year.

The problem is a shortage of homes, with 8% fewer house sellers this August compared to last year.

Here's the chart:

Sellers are keeping their houses off the market because of high moving costs and the lack of anything good to move into at a reasonable price.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst said: "If there's very little up for sale it can often put off would-be sellers from deciding to market their own property."

Here's a chart showing that trend:

This is good news for homebuilders, like Bovis - the company reported a 9% hike in revenue for the first half of the year.