It's the first year-on-year rise in prices since March 2008.
However, despite the rise in prices in each of the last six months, the problems affecting the market are not all behind us. At 0.4 per cent, October's increase had slowed from the 0.9 per cent seen in September and the 1.4 per cent recorded in both July and August. Nationwide said that the smaller rise this month may reflect the fact that more properties are being put on the market than earlier in the year so there is less of a gap between demand and supply.
First-time buyers also face a double whammy - rising house prices and lenders asking for hefty deposits of 20 or 30 per cent to qualify for the best mortgage rates. It is harder than ever to get on the housing ladder for the first time, which is why first-time buyers are a dying breed. Unless they have help from their parents, it can be impossible to get that first foothold.
Although house prices have risen 4.6 per cent so far this year on average, they remain 13.1 per cent lower than the peak in October 2007.