However the company said the small decrease showed the market was stabilising after an eight-month fall.
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at Charcol, said he had been surprised by the news from both the Nationwide and the Halifax indices showing a small rise in house prices, particularly as they represented statistics from mid-December and January. He said the fact the figures were seasonally adjusted meant there was a margin for error. “Fundamentally though the figures are proving the doomsters wrong,” he said. “I believe we are likely to see a rise of between 4 and 5 per cent over this year.”
He also attempted to calm fears of further rate rises saying recent data showing weak economies in the Eurozone would have to be taken into consideration by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
Boulger said any rise risked putting UK exports at a competitive disadvantage.
Alex Bannister, Nationwide’s group chief Economist, said: “We expect that the number of house purchase mortgages approved in February will recover to at least 80,000 from the decade low approvals seen in January.”
Kevin Lilley, head of national accounts for third-party distribution at Clydesdale Bank, commented: “It’s clear that estate agents are starting to price a little more realistically, though we should not forget there are variations in inflation across the different regions in the country.”
Meanwhile recent figures from Savills reported a growth in the London residential lettings market. Richard Donnell, head of Savills Residential Research, said: “There has been a 4.4 per cent increase in average rental values over the year.”
Richard Sexton, national business development manager at chartered surveyors e.surv, commented: “We are as busy now as we were in the summer of 2004, allbeit with more remortgage business then purchase.”
