House prices show biggest increase since 2007

House prices are showing their strongest rise for more than two years as a lack of supply continues to drive the market, according to a survey today. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said its headline house price balance has reached its highest level since the onset of the credit crunch. It said that around 22 per cent more surveyors thought prices rose rather than fell during September, the highest proportion since May 2007. The improvement was driven by London and the south-east, where 79 per cent and 52 per cent respectively more surveyors reported price rises than falls. However, prices continued to decrease in other areas, with 18 per cent more surveyors seeing falls in Yorkshire and Humberside than those who saw rises, while 15 per cent reported price falls in Wales.