House prices increase for first time since October 07

House prices increased 0.9% in March compared to the previous month - the first price rise since October 2007, according to a survey by Nationwide.

"While the rise in prices in March is welcome, it is far too soon to see this as evidence that the trough of the market has been reached," said Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist.

This rise reduced the annual rate of house price falls from 17.6% in February to 15.7% in March. The average UK home now costs £150,946.

The Bank of England recently announced that mortgage approvals jumped by the biggest margin for three years in February.

There were 38,000 approvals in the month, up from 32,000 in January - meaning that this is the biggest month-to-month jump since 2006 and the highest level of mortgage lending since May 2008.