The housing market appears to be “on the turn” despite April seeing a house price rise of 0.2% in England and Wales, Hometrack has said. Director of research Richard Donnell explained that the trend for the past quarter had been housing supply outstripping demand. “The election is being cited as a factor behind growing buyer uncertainty and this is reflected in the number of viewings per sale which has been rising for the last three months from 10.4 in January to 11.2 in April,” Donnell explained. “The growth in the number of sales agreed has also slowed significantly – rising just 6.3% this month compared to 13% in March.” He added that growing price resistance and buyer hesitancy indicated a slowdown in house price rises in the near term. April’s price rise was down on the 0.3% gains seen in February and March. Meanwhile, Halifax saw a 1.1% rise in house prices in March. Housing economist Martin Ellis said that the housing market had “improved”, pointing to property sales in England and Wales that had increased for three consecutive quarters after hitting a low in 2009’s first quarter. <br>