The seasonally adjusted house price balance jumped to +21 in June from +5 in May. This is the best reading since January 2010 and the biggest improvement in a single month since 2009.
Peter Bolton King, global residential director at RICS, said: "After what has seemed like a very long wait we are finally starting to see what looks like the beginning of a recovery in the housing market.”
The survey also found that 45% of surveyors expect the number of home sales to increase over the next three months, up from 36% in May and the highest reading since the survey began more than a decade ago.
In another sign that market confidence is returning new buyer enquiries rose for a sixth consecutive month and are now at the highest level since August 2009.
Brian Murphy, head of lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau, said: “With buyer demand having risen every month since January, activity in the property market continues to heat up and we are now experiencing a genuine heatwave rather than simply a hot flush.
“A new home may not be the quickest item to tick off your summer shopping list, but with rock-bottom rates available from many lenders, there is no time to let holiday plans distract from a potential move up the property ladder.
“Rising prices could be a sting in the tail for anyone with limited funds to put down as a deposit, but credit conditions have improved and the outlook is bright for the second half of the year.
"It will encourage everyone with half an eye on a property purchase to see that surveyors are more optimistic about increased sales than they have been since April 1999.”
