Optimism in the housing market increased substantially in May once the general election ran its course before dropping in June, but it was still far higher than at the beginning of the year.
Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: "Economic growth, together with increasing real earnings growth and historic low mortgage rates are all supporting the continued rise in house price optimism.
“It’s not been a smooth increase though as while there was a noticeable spike in optimism straight after the general election result, this has now fallen off slightly.
“A key factor in maintaining optimism over house price growth has been the fact that the stock of homes available for sale is currently at record low levels.
“If this growth is to be sustainable then we need to see a comprehensive house building plan rolled out across the UK, and soon.”
In the wake of Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England's comments on Tuesday that improving economic conditions mean an interest rate rise is moving closer, nearly nearly half of Britons (48%) expected them to rise in 12 months.
On a regional basis Londoners were the least likely to say it’s a good time to buy (38% compared to the UK overall) and more think the next 12 months will be a bad time compared to good.
People in the South East were most confident in house prices rises (90% predicted a rise compared to 69% of Britons).
