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10% boost for market Annual house price inflation has hit double figures for the first time since June 2007, according to the Nationwide. The building society said that house prices had risen by 10.5% between April 2009 and the April this year. Between March and April house prices rose by 1% and the cost of the average home is now £167,802. The price rise comes despite
an increase in the number of sellers in the market. However, the Nationwide’s chief economist Martin Gahbauer predicts that the imbalance between sellers and buyers will gradually have more of an impact on prices. He said: “While the recovery in new buyer enquiries at estate agent offices appears to have petered out, the last few months have seen an increase
in the level of new instructions from sellers. “All else equal, this should lead to a gradual flattening out of the recent upward price momentum.” Jonathan Moore, director of rental sector property website easyroommate.co.uk, said that this recent rise in prices “is just another nail in the coffin for the first-time buyer’s hopes of buying a home.”
He added: “As house prices rise, the property ladder is being pulled further and further from the grasp of firsttimers. Unless they can raid the coffers of the bank of Mum and Dad, thousands of wannabe buyers struggle to find the enormous deposits required by lenders and thousands more cannot borrow enough to buy houses at these inflated prices.”
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But while this is good news for private landlords in terms of increasing the supply of potential tenants, higher prices also make it difficult for them to boost their portfolio. David Brown, commercial director of LSL Property Services, said: “House prices have continued along their upwards trajectory, increasing the value of landlords' existing portfolios, but it makes buying addi-
tional rental properties more expensive.” According to latest figures from Home.co.uk the mix-adjusted average asking price for homes on the market in England and Wales rose by 0.5% in the month leading up to the April Asking Price Index report. This is the second month in a row that asking prices have risen by 0.5%.