Warm weather gave retailers a seasonal boost last month, with the strongest activity in the high street for nearly a year, a survey shows today.

The best sales figures for ten months from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) coincide with a report showing that the difficult trading environment for retailers of recent years may have finally abated.

The rise in the high street’s fortunes increased the possibility of interest rates rising in May. However, the news was balanced by signs that the housing market is slowing after the three rate rises since August.

High street sales rose 6.2 per cent in March, against a year ago, the BRC reported, the best figure since May. On a like-for-like basis, which strips out changes in floorspace, sales rose 3.9 per cent, the strongest figure since last April.

Women’s clothing sold well, as did handbags and men’s casual clothes. Footwear had the best sales growth since November 2004. Easter boosted food sales and the weather aided sales of garden goods.

However, Kevin Hawkins, the BRC’s director-general, said that the results should be set against a poor sales performance a year ago. “Discounting and competition generally show no signs of easing off and many consumers are wary of making big purchases,” he said.

According to a separate report from Grant Thornton, the accounting firm, trading conditions for retailers have been very strong so far this year. Grant Thornton said that 44 per cent of listed retailers had issued positive trading statements for this year’s first three months — up from 33 per cent last year and 25 per cent in 2005.

A report by the Council of Mortgage Lenders said that the number of new loans for house purchase, a signal of the future health of the property market, fell to 72,000 in February, the weakest such figure in a year.

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