Average asking prices on a home rose for the second straight month from mid-October to mid-November according to Rightmove.co.uk.

The report is suggesting that confidence is returning to the market.

Rightmove saud that house prices climbed 0.8% between October 9 and November 12 compared with the previous monthly period.

The average asking price for a home rose to £197,855 from £196,348, pushing the annual rate of increase in house prices to 4 percent from 1.5 percent. The average number of unsold properties on estate agents’ books fell to 69 from 71 in the last survey.

Increasing buyer activity has given over 130,000 sellers the confidence to edge up average asking prices by 0.8%, (£1,507). This takes asking prices of newly marketed properties to around the level seen 7 months ago, with prices remaining more or less static over that time period.

The market has reached a level of sustainable pricing that is attracting increased buyer demand without resorting to dramatic price falls.

Rightmove surveyed nearly 132,000 properties advertised on its web site for its November House Price Index.

Miles Shipside, Commercial Director of Rightmove comments: “The property market’s key foundation has returned: confidence is back leaving pessimists out in the cold! The combination of sustainable prices and a fall in interest rates has raised buyers’ and sellers’ confidence to strike a deal”.

Whilst the overall picture looks much healthier than most could have wished for at the turn of the year, there are still some marked variations in activity.

“There are still some properties where price expectations are too high to benefit fully from the improving buyer sentiment. Over-valuing will still back-fire”.