Average property prices have risen by £2,048 in the first week of 2004 according to a new report. Rightmove reports that one of the driving forces has been first time buyers seizing the opportunity to get onto the property ladder. They have identified the quieter period up to Christmas as the bottom of the market as well as a good time to negotiate.

This increasing demand has helped push up average asking prices for terraces by 1.0% (£1,532) to £154,539 over the last month. Flats and apartments have also risen by 1.0% (£1,543) to £160,092. The net effect has resulted in an overall monthly rise of 0.1% and a final annual rate of 3.6% for 2005 overall.

The weekly increase of £2,048 is calculated using 29,705 properties new to the market since the turn of the year, representing over 60% of all properties advertised by estate agents. Sellers’ asking prices give the earliest indicator of price trends in the market, long before they feed through into sold prices.

The improving demand at the lower end of the market and the increasing volumes of transactions in the latter half of 2005 have given sellers and their estate agents the optimism to edge prices up for the more popular properties. The next few weeks will show whether this New Year optimism is valid.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove said: "Whilst it’s still a buyers’ market, prospective purchasers now need to think about how long it will remain in their favour if these increases continue."

"If you want to trade up, the gap between your home and the next step up the ladder is smaller when it’s dark and cold in winter before the traditional market upturn in spring"

Recoveries in the UK property market tend to start in the south and then filter out to the rest of the country. The rises of 1.3% in both Greater London and the South-East are the highest in the country. Rightmove expect this trend to continue, leading to them outperforming other regions over 2006 and contributing most to positive price growth.








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