Yahoo Finance Nationwide - Home Prices Up 10% In Last Year
Average house prices have risen by nearly 10% in the last year, according to a property survey.
Nationwide (LSE: CCDS.L - news) said year-on-year prices were up 9.5% in March, the biggest annual jump since mid-2010.
The March figure was up on the 9.4% recorded in February and the 8.8% rise in January, the building society said.
The average house price in Britain reached £180,264 in March, it added, but said London prices were more than double that - at £363,000.
The year-on-year price increase in London reached 18%.
The figure was still around 3% lower than the unadjusted inflation peak recorded by the lender in 2007.
Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said: "There is little doubt that the recovery in the housing market is now firmly established, with activity levels picking up and house prices recording their 15th successive monthly increase in March.
"(But) there are some tentative signs of moderation."
On Monday, the Bank of England (BoE (Shenzhen: 000725.SZ - news) ) released mortgage lending data that showed approvals slowed in February, possibly reflective of the unstable weather across Britain.
Mr Gardner said a combination of greater credit availability, green shoots of growth and low mortgage rates were all boosting property demand.
However, he warned of the continued lag in housing stock supply.
"The number of new homes being built in England is still around 40% below pre-crisis levels, and this was already insufficient to keep up with the increase in the number of households being formed," he said.
Last month, Chancellor George Osborne said the Government would extend its Help to Buy scheme, which involved the provision of equity loans to buyers of newly built homes until the end of the decade.
BoE governor Mark Carney has played down suggestions that the housing market is overheating.
But the bank refocused its Funding for Lending scheme away from mortgage lending and dedicated it exclusively to business lending at the start of this year.
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