The Nationwide bank revealed last week that house prices rose by nearly 1 per cent during March, pushing up the average house price to £150,946.
This good news also followed recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showing that mortgage approvals have also started to increase with the highest levels recorded since May 2008.
Nationwide's good news for March ends a 16-month run of plummeting prices for the UK property market which has seen the average house price drop by 19 per cent since autumn 2007 - down from £186,000 to £147,746.
"While the in prices in March is welcome, it is far too soon to see this as evidence that the trough of the market has been reached," says Fionnuala Earley, the Nationwide's chief economist.
"The Bank of England has already taken strong measures to ease the tensions in economic and financial markets by cutting rates and commencing quantitive easing. However it will take time for these to work through into the housing market before we can expect a sustained recovery in house prices."
