Annual house price inflation in England and Wales is predicted to be 4.3% over the next three months, according to reallymoving.

The home moving services business said this will be the highest level of annual price growth since just prior to the EU Referendum (February to April 2016) when average annual growth hit 4.5%.

It’s not just annual growth that’s expected to rise – the monthly forecast is also positive. Growing confidence and optimism among buyers in January is predicted to feed through to a 4.3% monthly increase in average house prices forecast for April 2020 when those New Year deals complete.

How do they predict this?

Homebuyers register for quotes for home moving services on the reallymoving site around 12 weeks before their purchase completes, meaning it’s able to provide an accurate three-month property price forecast based on the purchase price agreed.

Historically, the data has closely tracked the Land Registry’s Price Paid figures, said the firm.

It predicts that house prices in England and Wales are on course to increase by 2.4% over the next three months, from £293,801 in January to £300,995 in April 2020. Dips in February (-1.1%) and March (-0.7%) will be offset by strong monthly growth of 4.3% in April, as the so-called ‘Boris bounce’ reported in the New Year becomes evident in completed sales.

Year-on-year price growth for the next three months will average 4.3%.

Rob Houghton, CEO of reallymoving, said: “Growing certainty about the UK’s future direction following the General Election appears to be prompting the release of some of the pent-up demand in the market from buyers and sellers who have adopted a policy of ‘wait and see’ over the last few months.

“This surge of optimism is clearly evident in sales agreed in January, which we anticipate will be visible in Land Registry data in April.”