House Prices see biggest rise for over two years

According to Hometrack, February has seen house prices rise faster than they have for 32 months.

The property research firm estimates in the last four weeks the average property value in England and Wales rose 0.7 per cent, the biggest jump since May 2004.

And Februarys rise means house prices are now 6.4 % higher than 12 months ago.

“Despite the January rate rise it seems that a lack of supply is continuing to support higher prices, primarily in London and the south-east,” said Richard Donnell, Hometrack’s director of research.

In February there was a rise in the number of properties coming onto the market, but this increase was not enough to keep up with demand.

Hometrack figures show 14 per cent more properties were registered with estate agents in the last few weeks, but there was a 23 per cent increase in the number of buyers looking to purchase over this same period.

Overall this means house prices rose across almost half of the country – although these were concentrated in the south, with house prices rises highly limited outside of London and the south-east.

Average prices grew just 0.1 per cent in the East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside and Wales. It takes seven or more weeks to sell a home in these regions, compared with less than two-and-a-half-weeks in London.

“What we’re seeing here is primarily an issue for southern England with price growth in most other regions limited by widespread affordability pressures and a reasonable supply of housing for sale,” Mr Donnell said.