The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has boldly predicted that house prices will rise by 6% in 2010 due to the improved levels of mortgage lending and expects house prices to be around 20% higher than they are today by the end of 2013.

The forecasts are based on the current 60,000 mortgage approvals per month and are predicted to increase to around 72,000 pm by the end of 2010 and a further 90,000 pm by 2013.

Benjamin Williamson, one of the report's authors, said: "The fact that house prices have already risen by almost 10% since the bottom of the cycle has surprised most commentators. However, with the rate of mortgage lending more than doubling over this period of time, a shortage of new properties on the market, low interest rates and unemployment not rising nearly as fast as expected, it is easy to see how prices have moved so quickly. This combination of factors will continue to push prices up during 2010, albeit at a more modest rate than we have seen over the last six months."

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