The confidence tracker by Halifax found rated people’s opinions on house prices rated as +64 in March, four points higher than the +60 recorded in February.

This is the highest level of confidence recorded since last July.

House price inflation has fallen from 10.2% to 8.1% in the same period, suggesting consumer confidence is damaged by rapidly rising house prices.

However, these house price rises have seen the level of people believing it’s a good time to buy dropping to +21 from its previous level of +35.

During the next year a third of people surveyed expect house prices to rise by up to 5%, with a quarter expecting increases of between 5% and 10%.

Craig McKinlay, mortgages director at Halifax, said: “We’ve seen a strong start to the year in terms of the net sentiment regarding the outlook for the housing market, and this has translated into an increase in transaction volumes.

“This increase in optimism is likely to be the result of a combination of factors, including the improving economic figures, greater numbers of higher loan to value mortgages, and extremely competitive mortgage rates.”

McKinlay said would-be buyers were still wary of taking the leap into home ownership.

“The results highlight that an increasing number of consumers believe interest rates will begin to rise in the next 12 months, but at the same time it is falling as a perceived barrier to homeownership,” he added.

“This is perhaps a result of rising incomes and the current low mortgages rates. The fact that consumers’ ability to raise a deposit remains the greatest perceived barrier to homeownership shows there is more work to be done in terms of letting people know what support is now available.”