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MONTHLY house price rises in England and Wales slowed marginally in June, but nonetheless took the annual rise in prices to the largest since January 2008, property data company Hometrack said.
The number of houses being put up for sale rose at a faster rate than the number of buyers, potentially limiting future price rises, however, recent legislative changes that have reduced up-front marketing costs for sellers mean more of the new homes coming on to market may be from less committed vendors only willing to move if they get an unrealistically high price, Hometrack said.
"While the proportion of the country registering higher prices continues to shrink - 11 per cent in June, down from 25 per cent in February - very low transaction volumes are exacerbating the scarcity of housing for sale and this is acting as a support to prices," said Hometrack's director of research, Richard Donnell. "A lack of forced sellers is likely to limit the scale of any declines."
The survey of estate agents and surveyors showed an average rise of 0.1 per cent in house prices in June, down from 0.2 per cent in May, and a year-on-year rise of 2.1 per cent.
Hometrack has consistently shown smaller price falls and rises than surveys by mortgage lenders Halifax and Nationwide and actual price changes recorded in official Land Registry data. April's Land Registry data - the most recent available - showed an annual rise of 8.5 per cent across England and Wales.
Analysts say London remains a firm favourite with Gulf investors.
