The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has found the net balance of chartered surveyors reporting rises rather than falls in house prices reached a positive reading of 10.7 per cent in August from a negative reading of 5.7 per cent in July.
Yesterday economic forecasters at Ernst & Young warned house prices would not reach their 2007 peak for another five years, and only a lending pick-up would lead to recovery. However, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said mortgage lending was improving, saying 'gross lending rose significantly' for the second month running.
Today's survey from Rics found the national average had been boosted by data from the south of England, with the net balance of surveyors reporting price rises, rather than falls, in London rising 43 per cent.
Rics spokesperson Jeremy Leaf said: 'Although it is clear that house prices are now rising, it continues to be the lack of supply that is underpinning the recovery in most parts of the country.
'The more positive news flow will gradually encourage vendors to start putting property back on the market. This development should enable more potential purchasers to find desirable properties to buy but it could also present a challenge to the firmer trend in prices particularly when interest rates finally begin to move upwards.'
The sales to stock ratio – a measure of market slack and an indicator of future prices– continued to edge upwards, rising for its eighth consecutive month.
Rics said: 'While activity in the housing market continues to improve, the pace of improvement did slow slightly last month. The net balance of surveyors reporting an increase rather than a decrease in new buyer enquiries edged down, from 61 per cent in July, to 49 per cent in August.'
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