The price of an average UK home rose by 1% in April, the biggest increase since early summer, figures from the Nationwide show.
The UK’s biggest building society said the pickup in growth had occurred despite a slowdown in activity, which could have been caused by uncertainty over the election.
Nationwide’s monthly snapshot of the market, which is based on mortgages it has approved after valuation adjusted to reflect a typical home, showed the monthly rate of growth at its highest level since June 2014, pushing up the average price of a home to £193,048.
As a result, the annual rate of growth increased for the first time in seven months, rising to 5.2% from 5.1% in March. This compares with its recent peak of 11.8% in June.
In recent months, there has been a marked slowdown in activity in the housing market, with lenders and surveyors reporting falls in buyer numbers, despite a mortgage price war that has driven rates to record lows.
On Tuesday, the British Bankers’ Association said the number of mortgages offered by its members had increased in March but remained 14% lower than the previous year.
Recently, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said interest from buyers had “flatlined”, but it warned that a fall in the number of sellers could lead to higher prices.
Nationwide’s chief economist, Robert Gardner, said: “The strength of the economy and relatively subdued pace of activity in the housing market remains something of an anomaly.
“It is possible that heightened uncertainty ahead of the election is weighing on activity, though there is no compelling evidence from previous UK elections to suggest a strong impact.” He added: “Healthy labour market conditions and continued low mortgage rates should help underpin housing demand in the quarters ahead.”
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said there were “increasing signs that the housing market is now starting to firm after weakening appreciably through the second half of 2014”.
Archer said activity was likely to pick up gradually over the coming months. “Meanwhile, a current shortage of properties coming on to the market seems to be providing increasing support to house prices,” he added.
The relentless rise in prices is leading to a growing housing crisis and making it increasingly hard for households to buy homes. Shelter has said that in London, just 43 of the homes being advertised for sale would be affordable to local families.
Many of the main political parties have included pledges to aid home ownership in their manifestos, with the Conservatives offering to extend right to buy and Labour planning a stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers.
Garner said although the UK was “often characterised as a nation of homeowners”, when compared with other European countries levels were “not particularly high”.
“Although some other European nations have seen declines in their home ownership rates in recent years, the movement in the UK has been more pronounced,” he said.
“That said, even at its all-time high of 73% in 2007, the UK homeownership rate was not particularly high by EU standards. Since then, there has been significant growth in the private rental sector.”