Confidence returning to housing market

The latest Woolwich index shows that consumer confidence increased in March.
Last month it increased by 2% to 47% of people believing their home will continue to increase in value over the next 12 months.

This is compared to 45% in February and 40% in January.

Confidence is still considerably lower than last March however where confidence was 65%.

Andy Gray, head of mortgages at Barclays and the Woolwich, says: "As predicted confidence is continuing its upward trend as we enter the traditional home buying period.

"Potential buyers that may have been holding back waiting for the market to stabilise seem to be more confident now, alongside this interest rates have been stable for eight months in a row."

Scotland remains the most confident region closely followed by the North West with confidence reaching 55% and 53% respectively.

The South West continues to be the least confident region with only 38% of homeowners believing that their property will continue to increase in value.