Leap in home sales sparks fresh rise in prices - Hometrack

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

The housing market is heading for "new heights", a leading expert said today as he published figures showing prices, sales and demand all rose this month. John Wriglesworth, a housing economist at the property website Hometrack, said 2003 was on track to end with record house prices in the UK.

The latest Hometrack report showed that the price of the average home rose 0.4 per cent in October to £145,900.

The number of sales agreed jumped by 7 per cent over the month, following a 2 per cent increase in September. Demand for homes has also increased relative to the number of properties for sale. "The housing market is heading for new heights," Mr Wriglesworth said.

He said expectations of rising mortgage rates - which were given a spur by last week's news that interest rates almost rose this month - had had little adverse impact on demand. As long as rates did not rise by more than a percentage point to 4.5 per cent then he said the market would stay "robust".

"We are confident that house prices will continue to rise next year," he said. "Speculation of an imminent housing market crash is totally misguided and the doomsters will soon have egg on their faces."

The report showed a continuation of the north-south divide with the largest rises in Hereford and Worcester and East Yorkshire and the steepest falls in north-west London and Buckinghamshire. It said house prices were rising more in the more affordable parts of the UK. The 10 regions with the highest rises have an average price of £114,790, while the 10 with low or falling prices have an average of £187,000. Preston, Hull, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes and Shrewsbury are all witnessing annual house price inflation of more than 25 per cent.