Robust house price growth

According to the latest survey from property website Rightmove, prices for homes in England and Wales rose an annual 12.2% in March, a sign the housing market has remained robust in the face of rising interest rates.

Rightmove said March's rate compared with a 11.5% increase in February and took the average asking price for a home to £228,183. Prices rose 1.5% on the month, Rightmove reported in its survey conducted between February 11th and March 10th. The figures are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

They went on to say that they believed a shortage of supply was driving prices higher in spite of higher borrowing costs. "As we have seen recently, raising interest rates can be used to influence the direction of prices in the short term but do very little to address the underlying cause of house price inflation. Crucially they cannot address the increasing demand for housing driven by the needs of a growing population." said Rightmove Commercial Director Miles Shipside.

Asking prices in the upmarket London areas of Kensington and Chelsea were more than 80% higher on the year, rising to more than 1.2 million pounds on average.