The housing market showed further tentative signs of stabilising today with prices rising by more than 1 per cent during April, government figures showed.

A report from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said the average cost of a home in the UK jumped by 1.1 per cent during the month, while the annual rate at which prices are declining eased to 13 per cent, down from 13.6 per cent in March.

The average house prices in the UK is now £189,215.

The DCLG report added to other positive reports on the UK housing market, with figures published yesterday showing that the pace of house price falls slowed in May while home sales picked up.

About 6 per cent of estate agents across the UK said that property values had risen in May, while 42 per cent said that prices fell, according to figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Halifax recently reported that house prices rose by 2.6 per cent last month while Nationwide said house prices increased 1.2 per cent month-on-month in May.

But analysts warned against reading too much into the new figures. “We remain sceptical that house prices have bottomed out,” Howard Archer, an analyst at IHS Global Insight, said. “Significantly, it is not uncommon for there to be months of rising prices when house prices are still trending down.”

Mr Archer predicted that house prices will fall by a further 10 per cent to trough around mid-2010.

Ten reasons to be cheerful about the housing market

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