Hass Consult, a property development and management fim, yesterday released the results of the Hass Property Index for quarter 1 of 2012. The Hass Property Index is a measure of how housing prices and rents are moving.

In brief, the figures were as follows:

• Closing prices, the prices at which sales were actually made, in the middle and upper market remained subdued, down by 0.7% in the last 3 months of 2011.
• The asking price, the prices set by sellers, increased across all sectors of the market, by 1.3% with strongest push for higher prices in town houses and maisonettes, with asking prices rising 3.8% in the first 3 months of 2012, compared to the last 3 of 2011.
• There was also a push for higher prices for standalone houses, 2.9% higher than at end-2011
• Asking prices for apartments remained largely static, up just 0.4 per cent on end-2011.

• Asking rentals went up across the board, with a 5% increase over Q4 2011 for standalone house rentals, which had remained flat for all of last year
• A 3.5 per cent rise in town house and maisonette asking rentals reversed some of the rental falls of last year
• At the lower end of the market, with apartments, asking rentals continued to climb strongly, up 5.6 per cent on end- 2011 and 10.5 per cent on a year earlier.

'This bulge in apartment rentals is being driven by the exact group of first-time purchasers now being constrained by current interest rates in seeking mortgages, and in buying into apartments, maisonettes and town houses of their own." said Mrs. Farhana Hassanali-Hashmani