UK-Rightmove forecasts flat house price growth over 2010

Rising buyer interest and low levels of supply pushed property asking prices in England and Wales up an annual 4.1 percent in January, property website Rightmove said on Monday.

On a non-seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, prices rose 0.4 percent, reversing part of December's 2.2 percent decline.

Search activity on Rightmove's website hit a record high in the first full week of the year with 157.4 million pages viewed, 26 percent higher on the same period a year ago.

"The rise in asking prices is an early indicator that new sellers in 2010 have the confidence to try for a higher price," said Miles Shipside, Rightmove's commercial director.

He said the factors that contributed to the market's recovery in 2009 looked to strengthen in the short term, despite an election less than five months away.

But Rightmove said higher interest rates and government spending cutbacks later in the year could sap the market's upward momentum.

In London, which has led the country's house price recovery, property asking prices rose 2.3 percent on the month and 5.5 percent on the year.

Rightmove forecast property prices in the capital would rise by 5 percent during 2010 but would show zero growth in England and Wales as a whole.