Property website Rightmove reports that average asking prices rose by 3.6% (£8,307) last month, the highest monthly percentage increase recorded since April 2002 (then 4.50%). The average asking price for a property now stands at £236,490 - £30,816 higher than a year ago. Rightmove measured 159,718 asking prices of properties put on sale by estate agents from 11th March to 7th April 2007.
Miles Shipside, Commercial Director of Rightmove comments: "Sellers' asking prices provide one of the earliest indicators of which way the market is headed, and whilst a boost is to be expected around Easter, £8,000 in a month is the largest amount we have ever recorded. Every region saw major increases, with the minimum jump being £3,000. We have a unique set of market conditions however, and followers of housing fortunes should not regard this as the start of another national boom. As prices go higher, fewer buyers can afford to get on the ladder or trade up, and that will restrain ongoing increases in many parts of the country. More affluent areas will remain the exception however".
