Market Index

But there are 'some signs of over-optimism' amongst vendors at the top end of the property market, warns Rightmove.

Property market sentiment 'is improving steadily' says top buying agency.

Increase in short-term property lending has been driven by demand from residential homeowners.

'Affordability constraints will likely hit the brakes on rental growth at some point this year,' says Hamptons - but the estate agency warns 'it’s unlikely to slow considerably due to the number of landlords…

Top-end property values are now falling in 16 of the 46 markets tracked by Knight Frank's Prime Global Cities Index, and 'downward pressure' is expected to continue for the next few quarters.

Surveyors reported a dip in home-buyer demand last month, but most other property market indicators continue to improve from last year's low-point.

The property market 'continues to rebalance', says Zoopla, with price growth slowing as supply improves.

Rightmove listed 46% fewer rental properties in Q1 this year than in Q1 2019, while processing 48% more tenant enquiries.

'Buyers are not feeling the same sense of urgency that they felt last year,' says says Frances McDonald of Savills Residential Research;' they’re more cautious and are happy to bide their time.'

The property market is showing "unseasonal pricing restraint", says Rightmove as the average UK asking price rises by just 0.2% in the last month.

Industry Reactions: Property insiders weigh-in on the latest UK HPI, which tells of another fall for property prices in February.

JLL's Prime Central London index for Q1 2023 tells of a 4.3% annual decline in achieved sold prices, and a 5.5% increase in achieved rents.