Kent estate agents are welcoming the news house prices went up with caution.

A surprise bounce in prices across the country saw the value of homes increase by 0.9 per cent in March.

It is the first time prices have gone up since October 2007. The average house price in the UK rose to £150,946 in March from £147,746 in February.

The figures released by Nationwide are being welcomed as signals of market improvement, although experts are also stressing it is too early to talk of house price recovery.

Damien Cooke, owner of Cooke and Co Estate Agents in Cliftonville, near Margate said: "These figures don’t reflect what is going on in the housing market at the moment.

"Certain areas will remain at reasonable levels price-wise - but in Kent that is certainly not the story. We have seen very drastic reductions in price to try and achieve a sale."

~ Audio: Estate agent Damien Cooke explains why he's dubious about the price rise figure >>>

Martin Gahbauer, senior economist at Nationwide, said: "The increase may reflect people coming back into the market who felt insecure when the banking crisis was at its peak a couple of months ago.

"But the level of transactions are still at a very low level historically."

Mr Cooke added: "You have got to look at any signals with caution - any figure based on a month rise is probably a red herring. Once this global crisis ends we’ll start to see prices going up."