Residential property transactions, including new homes, rose by 24% in October compared to the previous month helping to push home prices marginally higher by 0.1% - the first monthly increase since May, new figures from LSL reveals.
The data suggests that there are early signs that the recently introduced government-backed Funding for Lending Scheme designed to increase the availability of cheaper loans and mortgages for businesses and households is having a positive impact on the market.
Furthermore, with London's Olympic and Paralympic Games now a fading memory, the figures also suggest that more people have turned their attentions back to property resulting in greater activity after delayed moving decisions in early summer.
According to the research, areas with the most expensive homes are seeing the biggest price increases, with the average property price in London increasing by 8.3% annually, compared to falls in regions such as the North West, Wales and the West Midlands.
Richard Sexton, director of e.surv, said: "There were welcome signs of life in October's housing market as house prices rose on a monthly basis for the first time since May and transactions jumped up to their second highest level in over two years."
He added: "We've seen tentative indications of a slight thaw in the mortgage market in the last month. Although the number of borrowers able to secure a mortgage remains far from healthy by historic standards, lenders are starting to pass along cheaper finance provided by the Funding for Lending scheme."
