Property prices on the rise

THE Westcountry housing market is showing signs of recovery as property asking prices rose across the region last month, figures have shown.

Estate agents in Truro were reporting a 15.9 per cent jump in average asking prices during March, according to property website Rightmove, representing the biggest leap in the South West.

Plymouth and Yeovil also noted sharp increases of just above 5 per cent, but Exeter and Penzance were in negative territory as asking prices fell by just over 1 per cent for both.

Pointing to a nationwide jump of 1.8 per cent, the biggest for 14 months, Rightmove said the rise in average asking prices was an indication house prices have finally have reached a floor and confidence was starting to return to the market.

But it stressed many sellers were still pricing their homes too high, and there was unlikely to be a sustained recovery until mortgage availability improved.

In the seven county-wide South West, Rightmove said the average asking prices had gone up by 3.2 per cent last month to £239,766.

The jump in asking prices added nearly £7,000 to the cost of the average home.

Despite the more upbeat message, prices in the region remain 8.5 per cent lower than the £261,919 this time last year.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: "My view is that many sellers are still starting too high, but the fact that they are coming to market in greater numbers and feel they can ask more shows a strengthening in resolve and confidence, which is an encouraging sign.

"It looks like we are now bumping along the bottom of the trough, but for there to be any real sense of optimism that we're on a sustainable road to recovery, the availability of mortgage finance needs to improve significantly."

Elsewhere in the Westcountry, asking prices were up by 7.3 per cent in Dorchester and 4.8 per cent in Torquay.

In Somerset, prices soared by 4.8 per cent in Bridgwater and 5.9 per cent in Yeovil and up slightly at 1.6 per cent in Taunton. But Weston-super-Mare recorded a fall of 0.7 per cent.

The Rightmove survey follows a string of more positive news for the Westcountry housing professionals.

Last week, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) indicated house prices are "now at or close to the bottom of the market", as chartered surveyor estate agents in the South West were selling more property.

Rightmove concurred estate agents were continuing to see an increase in sales, beyond the 19 per cent jump in mortgage approvals for house purchase during February reported by the Bank of England.

Feedback from agents suggests homes are still selling for around 25 per cent less than their peak price in many cases.

In a further sign that confidence is returning to the market, the number of sellers has also increased, with 22,260 people putting their homes up for sale each week during the five weeks to April 11. The figure was 13 per cent more than during the previous month, although it remained 19 per cent lower than last April.

The increase led to a slight rise in the number of homes the average estate agent had on their books to 72, although the overall number of properties available remained at historically low levels.