Britain booming after all?

People seeking property for sale in Surrey may make finding a wonderful home to live in a priority. It might possess fine attributes such as a large garden, many rooms, attractive local scenery and easy access to transport links. The potential value of the home may be of secondary importance.

Nevertheless, the suggestion that such properties may gain in value as a result of a growing strong economy is an enticing one.

For many, such thoughts were prominent during the previous decade, when there really was a property boom - or some would say bubble - and the economy was growing.

While all that came crashing down after 2007, the rebalancing of the UK economy might ensure that future growth is more stable and sustainable, both in the UK and elsewhere.

However, while one might reasonably expect that the economy as a whole will pickup eventually and with it house prices, the recent economic news appeared to suggest a return to recession was due first. The fall in gross domestic product of 0.2 per cent in the final quarter of 2011 suggested such a contraction was underway.

But the latest data has suggested that the picture is very different and that the bounce-back may be happening now.

This week, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) and Markit have produced their purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) for various sectors of the economy and the figures have confounded expectations.

Manufacturing rose from a score of 49.7 - indicating a slight contraction - to 52.1, its best month-on-month improvement since March 2011. Construction slowed from 53.2 in December to 51.4 in January but this still meant it was in positive territory. And the service PMI has jumped from 54 to 56, with the highest one-month rise in confidence in the 16-year history of the survey.

Commenting after the last of these, Chief economist at Markit Chris Williamson suggested a continuation of such figures could see the UK economy growing at its long-term "trend" rate of 2-2.5 per cent.

And Royal London Asset management economist Ian Kernohan said: "While it would be wrong to read too much into one month's set of data, it looks unlikely that the UK has entered a double-dip recession."

So for those buying a Surrey property who hope to see its value rise, the reasons to be optimistic seem much more plentiful than even a week ago.