Healthy Start for 2004

The house price index produced by the property website Rightmove.co.uk has found the market recovering well after a slight dip in December. Rightmove.co.uk calculated that prices fell 0.1% in December, but picked up immediately in the first week of January. 'The usual seasonal downturn in prices seems to have been very short lived this year, said Commercial Director Miles Shipside. 'The declines of December have virtually been wiped out by the strong surge over the past week or so.' Rightmove are also predicting this activity to continue into the spring as buyers feel confident: 'Strong renewed interest from prospective purchasers provides an indication that buyer activity is likely to be high over the fist few months of the year,' they say. 'While agents are seeing very good activity from prospective buyers, they continue to look for new instructions in order to build stocks for the likely early spring surge in activity.' Many property experts are predicting continued growth throughout 2004, although not as dramatic as it has been over the past two years. Prices are widely expected to rise by over 10% by the end of the year.