The sale of a house in Heaton, Bradford, for the full asking price within ten days of going on the market could herald the first signs of a housing market revival says a leading estate agent.

Bradford-based Dacre Son & Hartley handled nearly 2,500 property viewings in January and believes this offers hope of a market upturn.

The number of viewings was four times higher than in December and also better than the same time last year.

Dacres says it has also seen an increase in the number of offers being made and a healthy rise in the number of properties sold during January this year compared with January 2008.

A property in Ilkley was the subject of an attempted ‘gazump’ by rival buyers, something usually only seen in a booming market.

Patrick McCutcheon, Dacres’ head of residential, said: “As house prices across Yorkshire fell between ten per cent and 20 per cent last year, we have entered 2009 with many properties offering extremely good value for money and this is encouraging buyers back into the marketplace.

“We’re confident that this momentum of improvement will continue this year as the recent steep interest rate cuts, combined with price reductions will tempt even more buyers back in to the market.

“It’s also interesting to see the number of high net worth individuals shying away from equities and deposit saving and actively looking to build sizeable property portfolios instead.

“These buyers are now being joined by the more ambitious and the better funded ‘buy-to-let’ investors.

Dacres has launched a specialist division to handle property investment enquiries headed by director Dave Phillip who is based at its Otley office.

Mr McCutcheon said: “The property market in Yorkshire is recovering, but the improvement is fragile. The availability of mortgage funds and other lending remains crucial to the upturn of the property market and should be the government’s key focus in trying to secure continued improvement.”

l The optimism shown by Dacres has been supported by a new survey showing that consumer confidence is returning to the housing market, with two-thirds of people thinking now is a good time to buy a new home.

About 66 per cent of people said they thought it was currently a good time to buy a property, according to property website Rightmove.

Nearly half of people who responded to the online survey plan to buy a home during the coming 12 months, despite the fact seven out of ten expect prices to fall further during the year.

Miles Shipside, commercial director at Rightmove, said: “With interest rates at historic lows and set to fall further, and property deals available at around 25 per cent below peak boom prices, buying has got a whole lot cheaper.

“Other assets now seem a lot less solid than bricks and mortar, so the time-to-buy pendulum is swinging from negative to positive.”