Houses break [pound]180,000 mark

House prices grew by 0.9 per cent in April - almost double the rate of increase in March. This, according to Nationwide building society, takes the annual rate of bricks-and-mortar inflation up to 10.2 per cent, and the average house price to [pound]180,314.

That represents a rise of more than [pound]3,000 on March and [pound]16,741 on the same period last year - adding to the pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates next month from the current 5.25 per cent.

"The acceleration in house prices during April makes a rate rise look a certainty," said Fionnuala Earley, the chief economist at Nationwide. "But while the monthly rise is stronger than the Bank would have liked, the underlying trend is softening and the return to double-digit annual growth largely reflects a weak period this time last year."

Over the longer term, the market is beginning to cool, Ms Earley said. "The latest figures show prices rose by 2 per cent between February and April - the lowest three-monthly growth rate since last August."

Nationwide said talk of interest rates climbing to 6 per cent and beyond was "overblown", and warned that too sharp a hike could "undermine confidence" in the housing market and lead to widespread payment diffi-culties and price falls.

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