The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) house price balance for the month of February has fallen to -6 from -4 in the month before.

On average economists had expected house prices to recover to -2.

Activity, however, picked up. Thus, the gauge which measures new buyers´ enquiries improved markedly, to 3 (from -10). Similarly, the new seller instructions balance increased to 1 (from -5).

The measures of sellers' expectations for the coming three months, in terms of sales and prices, both increased: the balance for price expectations rose to 5 (from 1) and the sales expectations balance increased to 8 (from 6).

According to Peter Bolton King, global residential director at RICS, the housing markets is now picking up in most areas of the country. That may be down to the improved availability of mortgage lending, including via the Funding for Lending scheme (FLS), he believes.

"However, even with activity running at its best level since the middle of 2010, it is still well down on its pre-crisis norm," Bolton remarked.

House prices expected to rise

For their part, economists at Barclays Research had this to say: "Despite the setback in the RICS survey, we continue to expect the downward trend in house prices of the past few years to come to an end in 2013, with a number of factors supporting housing activity, including historically loose monetary policy and tight housing supply.

"Furthermore, we expect the BoE's Funding for Lending scheme to help through lower mortgage rates and increased availability."

AB

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