New buyers back for houses

NEW buyers are returning to the housing market confident that interest rates have peaked, according to a study published today. The number of buyers registered with property website Hometrack jumped 28.5% last month.

The New Year normally sees an influx of buyers. However, Hometrack - which speaks for 3,500 estate agents - believes the increase is more significant. 'The size of the increase suggests a revitalisation of the market,' it concluded.

The same study also found a 36% increase in completed sales in February, compared with January. At the same time, it said the average time to sell a property fell marginally to 7.6 weeks, the first fall since May 2004.

Despite these positive signs, Hometrack said the average house price fell 0.2% last month - the eighth month in a row that prices have gone down.

Seven counties in England and Wales reported price rises, with South Lincolnshire, Surrey, Greater Manchester, Birmingham and Devon recording an increase of 0.1% up to 0.3%.

The best performing cities were Warwick, Bournemouth, Gloucester, Manchester and Middlesbrough. Leicester, Chester, Stoke- on-Trent, Lincoln and Sunderland were among the cities to report falls. Prices dipped across Leicestershire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Merseyside and East London.

Hometrack said the biggest increase in the number of buyers registered with agents was in East Anglia at 39.9%, followed by 39.7% in the East Midlands and 38.3% in the South East.

Those in East Anglia reported a 51.1% increase in sales agreed compared with January. The figure was 45.4% in the West Midlands and 4% in Greater London.

Hometrack's housing economist, John Wrigglesworth, said: 'After eight months of housing market doldrums, the first signs of a robust recovery have appeared. A significant rise of new buyers, and an even more marked increase in agreed sales have stabilised prices. An analysis of recent trends suggests the worst is definitely over in terms of price falls.

'We expect prices to resume their long-term inevitable upward movement before the end of the year, fully compensating for the recent falls.' He added: 'A more stable interest-rate outlook, ongoing low unemployment, and rising household incomes will all help support rising house prices by the end of the year.'

But the upbeat claims are at odds with some City analysts who have talked of prices falling by 20% over the next two to three years. Wrigglesworth said: ' Commentators forecasting a housing market crash will soon have to again revise their forecasts.'