The latest house price survey from Halifax showed house prices rising strongly in March, by 1.1 per cent. This followed a fall in prices in February.
As a result the latest annual rate of house price inflation was up to 5.2 per cent in March, from 4.5 per cent in February. An average home in the UK now costs almost ?11,000 more than a year ago, at a price of ?168,521, according to these figures.
Halifax commented: ?This was the eighth rise in the past nine months, taking the average price to 9.1 per cent above the low point reached last April.?
The figures mean that house price inflation is at its biggest figure since December 2007, but the Halifax said that the underlying trend was still a slowdown in house prices over recent months.
A housing economist at Halifax, Martin Ellis, told BBC News: ?Prices in the first three months of 2010 were 0.6 per cent higher than in the final quarter of 2009. This was smaller than the 3.6 per cent rise between the third and fourth quarters of 2009, suggesting a slowdown in the trend rate of house price growth.?
Mr Ellis went on to say that the imbalance between supply and demand was beginning to reduce as a result of an increase in the number of properties for sale.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said that the Halifax figures backed up their suspicion that house prices would be erratic during 2010. However, he said that they may end up no better than flat over the year.
