Home prices to surge by 6% this year

The average home has increased in value by around ?16,000 since the start of the year as buyers become more confident in the recovering economy, property website Rightmove revealed today.

At the start of 2013, the company predicted prices would rise by two per cent this year - but it has now tripled that forecast.

A surge in would-be buyers after the traditional summer lull will also "prime the pump" for an autumn price increase while the number of houses up for sale remains limited, Rightmove said.

The company's September House Price Index showed that the average asking price fell by 1.5 per cent on the previous month to ?245,495.

But prices are still 7.2 per cent higher than at the start of the year as buyers take advantage of the Government's Funding For Lending and Help To Buy schemes.

It comes after the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors last week called on the Bank of England to cap house price rises at five per cent a year to prevent buyers taking on "excessive debt".

Asking prices in London increased by 8.2 per cent compared to a year ago, and also grew by 6.8 per cent in the West Midlands and 5.6 per cent in the South-east, Rightmove said. independent