House prices continue to rise
The latest monthly survey by the Nationwide has found that house prices have risen for the seventh month in a row.
The building society said that the average home increased in value by 0.5% in November and was boosted by better-than-expected news from the job market.
In the UK the average house is now valued at £162,764 - which is 2.7% more expensive than a year ago and at a similar level to prices in early 2006.
Nationwide's chief economist, Martin Gahbauer, said there has been some surprise that prices have continued to rise steadily in the recession but he believes unemployment figures as a key factor.
The outlook for the housing market remains crucially dependent on labour market conditions and here recent developments have been somewhat more encouraging than might have been expected, according to Mr Gahbauer.
He added that part of the explanation for why unemployment has not risen to the levels implied by the recession's depth is that in many cases employers have opted to reduce working hours and pay rather than make employees redundant. Even though workers who have been forced from full-time employment into part-time work will have experienced a reduction in income, the impact has been less severe than it would have been if they had lost their jobs completely.