Asking prices are close to an all-time high, Rightmove reported this morning.

The average new asking price is just £30 below last June’s record high of £281,782 and is 1% up on a monthly basis.

Rightmove quotes the average new asking price for a first-time buyer property at £169,414 and for a second stepper at £235,205.

The asking price for a ‘top of the ladder’ home is £511,354.

The number of newly listed properties is up by 3.2% on a monthly basis, with the average agent’s office now having 59 properties for sale. However, while the figure is up on a monthly basis, it is lower than the figure of 63 for the same time last year.

Rightmove warned that cheaper properties are in particularly short supply, with first-time buyers likely to be in competition with buy-to-let investors cashing in their pension pots.

It said this could drive up prices at the bottom end of the market.

Rightmove also reported record traffic in the first two months of this year, with its busiest-ever day for activity towards the end of February.