Rightmove has reported a record 100 million plus visits to its site in January as high demand pushes asking prices up.

The average price asking price for a property now stands at £279,004 in England and Wales - a 2.1% increase on January.

Supply and demand

Despite the record number of searchers, estate agents are reporting low stock levels of quality property.

Rightmove believes that this may be down to potential sellers being unable to find a suitable property to move on to and therefore not releasing their property onto the market.

The website also suggests that the lack of new homes being built along with the rise in buy-to-let investors, who tend to keep properties longer than owner occupiers, is hampering the supply of new properties on to the market.

It is predicting a further rise in buy-to-let investors after April as people over 55 get more freedoms on accessing to their pension pots.

There have been numerous reports of older people asking their estate agents about buy-to-let investments as they look to supplement their retirement income, says Rightmove.

Lowest levels

The average stock for sale per estate agency is at its lowest levels for the time of year since Rightmove started the survey 13 years ago.

The number of new sellers this month was also 4% lower than last year.

This has led to an across the board increase in asking prices in every region. London reported an increase of 9.7% since last year, putting the average price at £582,483. Even Wales saw asking prices rise by 1.8% to £169,136.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director, says that the low levels of supply might not be a blip but the ‘new norm’, blaming over 20 years of low construction levels.

Change of tactics

The website says that people who are insistent on trading up will have to change their tactics or pay the costs.

It claims that buyers now need to have a buyer in place - subject to contract - for their property to be considered a serious prospect for sellers.

In its latest quarterly market report, Strutt & Parker declares a positive outlook for the UK housing market in 2015, despite some challenges.

Alongside its retained economic advisors Volterra, the leading national estate agent is forecasting UK house price growth to be 5.0% in 2015. The figure in the Greater London area is predicted to be significantly higher at 9.0%, in contrast to prime central London where 0.0% growth is expected.