HOUSE prices were 7.7% higher in November than a year ago, the fastest rise seen in six years, according to the Halifax.
The bank said the increase was the biggest seen since October 2007, as strengthened demand combined with a lack of homes for buyers.
Prices rose by 1.1% month-on-month to reach £174,910 on average across the UK, the 10th monthly increase in a row. But the typical price is still 12% below its 2007 peak, the latest market study said.
Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis said: "The annual rate of price-increase rose again, with prices in the three months to November 7.7% higher than in the same three months last year.
"Stronger demand, combined with an insufficient increase in housing supply, has resulted in increases in house-prices …Low interest rates, improvements in consumer confidence and official schemes, such as Funding for Lending and Help to Buy, all appear to have boosted demand.
"However, continuing pressures on household finances, as earnings fail to keep pace with consumer price inflation, are expected to remain a constraint."
Mr Ellis said recent signs of a revival in housebuilding should also help bring supply and demand into better balance and curb upward pressure on prices.
A new phase of the Government flagship Help to Buy scheme was launched last monthto give more people with low deposits help on the housing ladder.
Meanwhile, the Funding for Lending scheme, credited with boosting mortgage availability, is being re-directed away from households to help small firms.
The number of mortgages on the market has increased by 40% since the scheme was launched last year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article