ASKING prices for homes rose by 1.3 per cent to a record high between mid-March and mid-April, figures showed today.

The prices demanded by sellers for their properties lifted by £2,577 to an average of £197,539, topping the "boom time" high in July last year by £1,341, according to the Rightmove House Price Index. Prices rose between February and March by 0.6 per cent.

Rightmove warned that a widening gap between asking prices and the sums buyers were prepared to pay could leave the market in limbo. Sellers and estate agents were bridging the gap by pricing properties more realistically, it said.

"A growing mismatch between sellers' pricing aspirations and buyers' willingness to pay may lead to stagnation of the housing market," the group said.

Despite the widening gap between asking prices and those offered by buyers, Rightmove said some positive buyer signals were fuelling the price aspirations of sellers.

The time that houses spend on the market before being sold had fallen to 73 days from 82, still 29% higher than last year.

Demand had also topped supply for the first time this year, Rightmove said.

In the year to mid-April, prices rose by 7% against 8.6% in the year to mid-March.

Rightmove compiled the figures by measuring 106,622 asking prices of properties put on sale by estate agents from March 13 to April 9, representing more than half the market.

Rightmove commercial director Miles Shipside said property buyers appeared to have understood the Bank of England's message to be more conservative with their spending, although asking prices were still not coming under control.

There were signs of a healthier market, but the trend was still in favour of buyers, with transactions below the normal levels for this time of year.

House price rises could only be sustained if demand from buyers consistently exceeded supply, which appeared highly unlikely for the foreseeable future, Rightmove said.

"It will take much higher interest rates or rises in unemployment to significantly lower sellers' price aspirations," Mr Shipside said.

"As neither of these economic factors are on the horizon, buyers will have to continue shopping around to find the sellers who are keener to sell.

"These record asking prices aren't reflecting the fact that we have been in a buyers' market for the last nine months."

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