PROPERTY experts are confident Oxfordshire house prices will start to rise again in the near future.

While the latest official figures show values at their lowest for more than three years, agents are upbeat – with high levels of demand coupled with a shortage of supply in some areas.

Statistics produced for April by the Government’s Land Registry show the average property in the county now costs £214,614, a fall of 0.7 per cent on the previous month.

Average prices have fallen 14.3 per cent in the last year and are at their lowest since December 2005.

Nationally the average cost of a home in England and Wales is now £152,898 — a level last seen in August 2004.

The annual rate at which prices are declining also remained broadly unchanged at 16.2 per cent, although this is only just below February’s record drop of 16.4 per cent.

Mark Charter, head of Oxford-based Carter Jonas, said: “The market has been strong since March and has improved so that we are now seeing properties selling across the board. Buyers from London are returning and international investors are also buying properties in Oxford to let. I think prices will start to increase through the spring and summer, although they will be modest.”