British home sellers raised asking prices this month to meet increased demand from buyers, according to Rightmove, with the average asking price increasing slightly by +0.6% to £227,864.

This follows a -0.4% fall in June. Seven of 10 regions tracked by Rightmove rose this month, led by East Anglia, where asking prices increased by +6.1%. Prices in London had the first annual gain of the year so far, increasing by +1.4% on the month and by +0.6% from a year earlier. Across England and Wales, values declined by -3.1% from a year ago.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: “With growing confidence that we’ve passed the bottom, buyers are more active, although they may discover that many of the best buys have gone.”

Separate reports have also showed that the mortgage market has improved. Gross lending rose +17% in June from the previous month to £12.3bn, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The Bank of England (BoE) said approvals by the nation’s six biggest banks rose to 51,100 in June, the highest since records began in December, from 45,000 in May.