The Nationwide Building Society has reported an increase of 0.3% in house prices in February.
The mutual said there was a slight acceleration in annual house price growth to 4.8%.
The average price of a home is now £196,930.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “Annual house price growth has remained in a fairly narrow range between 3% and 5% since the summer of 2015. This trend was also maintained in February, with house prices up 4.8% over the year, a slight pickup from the 4.4% increase recorded in January.
“The number of mortgages approved for house purchase increased sharply in January to almost 75,000, up from around 71,000 approvals in December and the highest number since January 2014.
“However, much of the increase is likely to be related to the impending increase in Stamp Duty on second homes which is due to take effect in April 2016. This is likely to have brought forward a significant number of purchases, which in turn will probably result in a fall back in approvals during the spring/summer.
“Looking through this volatility we expect the underlying pace of activity to increase in the quarters ahead as improving labour market conditions and low borrowing costs provide ongoing support.”
