Buyers are out in force, new housing index shows

The UK housing market is seeing a surge of activity on a par with the boom years of 2003 and 2004, according to a leading national estate agent. Your Move's new index, which will be launched next week, tracks the volume of housing transactions rather than prices. It shows a dramatic year-on-year rise in the number of March sales.

On Thursday Halifax's house price index showed that the average house price had topped £175,000 for the first time. But the report also showed that house price rises in the first quarter of this year were lower than they had been in the final quarter of last year.

This could be interpreted as a slowdown in the housing market but Your Move's new index, which is the only one to track transactions, paints a rosier picture for homeowners who are considering selling.

David Newnes, Your Move's managing director, said: "Trans-actions are well above last year and the abundance of buyers should push house prices up."

The index shows that gross property sales last month rose by more than 22 per cent on the same month last year and that first quarter sales were up by 21.5 per cent.

This is good news for sellers, who at the end of last year were struggling to get viewings, let alone the asking prices for their properties. However, sales are now being achieved more quickly - taking just 14 weeks to complete in March compared with 17 weeks in January. And fewer sales are falling through.

Buyers, however, face a tougher time - there are now 2.4 purchasers chasing each property, double the figure last March. They also face paying more as they are competing with more potential buyers, says the agency.

Your Move's agents have calculated that the average property on the market was viewed 3.8 times during March, compared with an average of 2.4 times last year.