Hometrack sees signs of recovery in UK house prices

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Hometrack sees signs of recovery in UK house prices

While values fell 0.2 per cent in February, property website Hometrack said the number of new buyers registering for sales and the number of agreed sales rose while the amount of time it takes to sell a house fell.

The fall in prices in February was the smallest since August, but still represented the eighth month in a row where prices have fallen.

The average house now costs £162,500, down from its June 2004 peak of £167,700. This saw prices stand just 0.3 per cent higher than the same time last year - the smallest annual gain in the three-and-a-half year history of the Hometrack index.

Nevertheless, Hometrack economist John Wriglesworth predicted that the number of positive indicators means that house prices are set to reverse their eight-month decline in March.

"Commentators forecasting a housing market crash will soon have to revise their forecasts," he asserted.

The fall in the amount of time it takes to sell a house was the first since May last year, with the number of sales where the asking price was achieved rising for the first time since April.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at Global Insight, commented: "While not too much should be read into one survey, there have been other signs that housing market activity could be at least stabilising after losing substantial momentum in the second half of last year."

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