Nationwide Building Society has suggested that the Help to Buy scheme could be part of the reason behind house prices rising once again during October.

According to the latest figures, property prices went up by one per cent last month, which has seen the recent momentum within the market maintained.

At the start of the year, growth averaged less than one per cent – however, in October this rate accelerated to 5.8 per cent – up from five per cent in September.

The rate is still around seven per cent below the house price growth rate peak seen in 2007.

Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said: “House price growth has accelerated as buyer demand has picked up more quickly than the supply of new homes.”

He added that affordability for potential homeowners risks becoming “stretched” if the current  trend continues.

The Help to Buy initiative was noted by the company as one of the reasons behind the fact that more people were looking to purchase property, alongside an increase in the country’s employment levels and the government’s Funding for Lending scheme.