'Surprise' bounce in house prices

The rise is the first since October 2007, and takes the average price to £150,946. The increase has also reduced the annual rate of fall from 17.6% to 15.7%. House purchase activity is now at its highest level since May 2008. Fionnuala Earley, chief economist at Nationwide, admitted the rise was surprising, and warned against making rushed conclusions of a market recovery. She said: "The moderation in the annual rate of fall is somewhat distorted by conditions last year and so it would be unwise to draw strong conclusions from the significant slowdown in the annual rate of fall. Equally, ...