The property website said that the average price of a house hit £354,564 in March, up 1.7% or £5,760 compared with February. It was the biggest monthly rise in 18 years, and pushed the annual rate of growth in asking prices to 10.4%.
Annual growth was above 10% for all regions and countries except London and Scotland. The jump in asking price was partly driven by a huge mismatch between supply and demand, with more than twice as many buyers as sellers. For those putting their house on the market, the chance of finding a buyer in the first week is higher than it has ever been for this time of year, and twice as likely compared with the same period in 2019.
The house owners are asking for higher prices as the demand for larger houses with four bedrooms or more rose by 3.4 per cent. The trend also encouraged new sellers to come to market, with 12% more new listings in this sector than at this time last year.
