Hometrack puts February house prices 0.3% ahead
Hometrack has reported a 0.3% rise in house prices in February, compared to January.
Southern England continued to see the greatest upward pressure on prices, with average values in London up by 0.7% in the month.
According to the housing intelligence firm, February also saw the first year-on-year rise since March 2008, at 0.4%, and the survey shows prices rising across 25% of postcodes – a level not seen since 2007.
However, Hometrack warns that the market currently lacks the solid foundations.
For example, the number of sales agreed increased by just 10% in February, compared with an average 30% over previous years.
Furthermore, the supply of homes for sale rose by 4.6%, against an average increase in previous years of 14%, and buyer registrations were up by 8.3%, compared to an average of 24% in the same month over the last eight years.
The typical time needed to sell a property extended to 8.6 weeks, although the proportion of asking price achieved rose from 88% a year ago to 93.8% today.
Hometrack comments: “A shortage of properties for sale has supported prices over the last 12 months but there is a danger that the pressure to gain instructions may result in the gap between asking and achieved prices starting to widen again.”
Last week, Nationwide reported a 1% drop in the average value of a home in February, compared to a month earlier.
The decline ended nine consecutive monthly rises and the building society reserved judgment on whether the fall is a blip or the beginning of a new trend.
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