"While these are still very much early signs, it is encouraging that sales are beginning to pick up"
- RICS director Peter Bolton King
Hopes that the U.K. can avoid from falling into a triple-dip recession were boosted on Tuesday, as house sales reached the highest level in three years, while retail sales picked up despite unseasonably cold weather. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said that a gauge of house prices rose to minus 1 from minus 7 in February. The improvement means that the difference between those who say prices are falling and those who say prices are rising. Also Tuesday, the British Retail Consortium showed that that total retail sales jumped 3.7% in March on a yearly basis, while same-store sales grew 1.9% over the same period.
"While these are still very much early signs, it is encouraging that sales are beginning to pick up," RICS director Peter Bolton King said in a statement. "Thanks to initiatives such as Funding for Lending, mortgages are becoming more accessible to buyers, which is gently easing the pressure on the market."
Peter Bolton King, the Rics global residential director, said: "A buoyant, healthy property market is central to economic recovery and, while these are still very much early signs, it is encouraging that sales are beginning to pick up."
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