Property listings website Rightmove PLC (LSE:RMV) said the average asking price for houses saw its biggest month-on-month rise for March since 2004.
Asking prices recorded between mid-February and mid-March were 10.4% higher than in the same period of 2021 and 1.7% higher than the previous month. The year-on-year rise was the biggest since June 2014.
The national average selling price is now £354,564, according to Rightmove. The price inflation is largely being driven by properties with four bedrooms or more.
Rightmove said there were two prospective buyers for every home listed, which was a record ratio for the time of year.
"The speed of the market is further demonstrated by the fact that there are more than one in five (22%) deals being agreed on Rightmove within the first week of being marketed,” the property listings website revealed.
"This is double the figure for the same period in the more normal market of 2019,” it added.
Myron Jobson at interactive investor said property prices continue to defy expectations.
“Many wannabe homeowners have failed to turn their dream of getting onto the property ladder into a reality as house prices accelerate ever skywards and price them out of the market.
“The latest jump in house prices piles on more misery for first-time buyers who have struggled to save up enough for a deposit. Ballooning inflation means that we have to spend more to maintain current levels of expenditure, but there is little wriggle room for first-time buyers living on a bare-bones budget to bolster their property savings pot. The Bank of Mum and Dad is also facing its own cost-of-living challenges and can’t be relied on to provide much needed financial support,” Jobson warned.
“Higher interest rates could take the heat out of the red-hot property market but could also deter first-time buyers worried about mortgage payments; however, with properties in short supply, the current high demand means that property prices could remain elevated for the foreseeable future,” he added.