Halifax has reported that house prices in the three months to February were 2.8% higher than in the same three months a year earlier – up from the 0.8% annual growth rate recorded in January.

February saw house prices by 5.9% over the month.

In the latest quarter (December – February) house prices were 1.8% higher than in the preceding three months (September – November).

The average house price is now £236,800.

Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax, said: “House prices have grown on an annual, quarterly and monthly basis for the first time since October 2018, taking the average house price to £236,800.

“The shortage of houses for sale will certainly be playing a role in supporting prices. House price growth is now at 1.8%, an increase from the 0.6% fall last month, and back at the rate we saw from July to September 2018.

“Annual house price growth at 2.8%, is within our expectations, but is fairly subdued compared to 2015 and 2016, when the average growth rate was 8.3%.

“People are still facing challenges in raising a deposit which means we continue to expect subdued price growth for the time being. However, the number of sales in January was right on the five year average and, at over 100,000 for the fifth consecutive month, the overall resilience of the market is still evident.”

Conor Murphy, CEO of Smartr365, added: “Moderate house price growth is inevitable as political and economic uncertainty persist with only 22 days left until Brexit. Despite this, the mortgage market continues to perform well as home owners capitalise on near-record low interest rates.

“Earlier this week marked the 10^th anniversary of the UK interest rate cut to 0.5%, which set the scene for a decade of historic low rates. With the base rate now at 0.75%, borrowers are locking into long-term fixed rate deals before possible future rate rises.

“This changing trend is making every broker-client interaction even more important and retaining current business is crucial. Brokers need to take advantage of end-to-end technological solutions which can do the heavy lifting for them, giving them back time to provide the advice borrowers need and focus on new leads in the ongoing remortgage demand.”