According to Hometrack Ltd, rise in U.K.’s house prices broke the record of last six years this month due to shortage of properties that boosted values in London. In England and Wales, the average values sought a rise by 4%. It is the biggest monthly rise since May 2007, said the London-based property researcher in a report.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack said, “The impetus for rising house prices is originating almost exclusively from London and the southeast. Elsewhere housing market conditions are improving gradually, with prices trending slowly upwards”.

The Bank of England and the U.K. Treasury has launched a credit-easing program that has helped to ease lending conditions in recent months. The plans by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in the budget in March are likely to spur property demands to aid home buyers.

Osborne’s latest move, Help to Buy, has attracted flak and the International Monetary Fund has said that there is an urgent need to take measures to boost the supply of housing.

“There is a risk that, in the absence of an adequate supply response, the result would ultimately be mostly house-price increases that would work against the aim of boosting access to housing”, the IMF said last week.