Prices of new homes grow again

In March the average price of a new home was up year-on-year for the first time in six months.

Last month a typical new home cost £256,850 - 2.3 per cent higher than a year earlier, SmartNewHomes has found.

Month on month prices in March fell 0.8 per cent. However, this was the smallest monthly decrease this year, indicating a stabilising market, the property website said.

"As we predicted, the housing market is on the turn and prices are beginning to increase again," said David Bexon, chief executive of SmartNewHomes.

"However we are not out of the woods yet. Many factors could still hamper market growth, including the possibility of interest rate rises or continued warnings forecasting a crash. In addition, the imminent election is likely to slow activity for a few weeks but could then provoke an upsurge in activity following the result," he added.

The percentage of new apartments on the market rose to a new high of 55.9 per cent, while the proportion of detached homes on sale dropped to 30.5 per cent.

But with more apartments and fewer detached and semi-detached homes on sale the average prices for these types of properties performed very differently.

The cost of detached houses rose 17.7 per cent over the year, with the price of semi-detached houses increasing 8.8 per cent. At the same time the cost of apartments fell 9.8 per cent and the average value of a townhouse dropped four per cent.