Asking prices rocket as housing boom gathers pace

House sellers' asking prices have surged at their fastest annual rate since 2007 amid signs that the market recovery will push into next year, a major property website has reported.

Rightmove said sellers have been asking 4 pecent more in November typically for their property than they were a year ago, marking the biggest annual rise it has seen in six years.

On a month-on-month basis, prices edged down by 2.4 percent to reach £246,237 on average, marking only the third time in 2013 that there has been a monthly dip.

The average asking price for a property in London is still more than three times that in the East Midlands. Prices in London have risen by 6.9 percent year-on-year, to reach £517,276 on average.

Asking prices usually fall by around 3 percent in the month of November amid the pre-Christmas slowdown, so the slower 2.4 percent decline seen this month suggests that the recent upturn in housing market activity has cushioned the seasonal drop, Rightmove said.

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: "Estate agents expect a more buoyant 2014 as they pick up early signs of an increase in buyer interest and demand, so this side of Christmas could be the time for eager buyers to hunt out keen sellers and do a deal."

Sellers' prices have increased year-on-year across every region in England and Wales apart from the North, the housing market report showed.

On a month-on-month basis, prices dropped in all regions. Prices in Wales dropped by the smallest percentage, edging down by 0.4 percent to reach £165,110 typically. Prices in London saw the biggest monthly drop, at 5 percent.

Rightmove said that in further signs of growing demand from would-be buyers, traffic to its website has recently seen a 30 percent increase on a year ago.

The stock of unsold homes has fallen from an average of 71 per estate agency branch one year ago to 67.