Market buoyed by fifth monthly rise
Estate agents are seeing renewed confidence in the housing market, confirmed by new figures from the UK's largest building society which reveal that house prices have increased the fifth month in a row.
Nationwide has released its data for house prices for September,
which show that the average price of a property has now recovered
to same level as this time 12 months ago.
After another monthly rise of nearly 1% during the month of September, the average price of a home in the UK is now £161,816, nearly £14,000 higher than the February low point of £147,746.
And the three-month trend, generally considered as a more accurate indicator of underlying trends, now stands at 3.8% - the highest since August 2004.
The turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable, given the economic downturn and fears of a crash in the property market.
In light of the figures, experts are urging homeowners not to get too carried away as the market continues to remain subject to economic pressures such as high unemployment and restrictive credit conditions.
Nevertheless, Nationwide was quick to point out that recent indications suggested that the most intense phase of the recession and financial crisis had probably passed.