EXPERTS last night called on the Bank of England to increase interest rates to cool the booming property market.

Senior economists told MPs that the bank needed to increase rates this week to bring prices down to a more sustainable level.

The bank's monetary policy committee, which meets on tomorrow, is being called on to raise rates by half a per cent to 4.75 per cent, the first consecutive monthly rise since 2000.

Economist Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital Economics, told members of the Treasury Select Committee that people should expect a sharp downward adjustment in house prices.

Another quarter per cent rise on top of three rate increases since November would make little difference to housebuyers, he said.

Figures last night showed house prices soaring ahead by 2.2 per cent during last month, boosted by strong demand combined with a shortage of properties for sale.

The North-South divide is expected to narrow further with a boom in Northern house prices.

The rise pushed annual house price inflation up to 20.4 per cent, the highest figure since June last year, according to Britain's biggest mortgage lender Halifax.

Despite signs the market was accelerating again, Halifax said it still expected price growth to slow later this year and into next.

The figures are in line with those reported by Nationwide Building Society, which showed house prices rose by 1.9 per cent during last month, to give an annual growth rate of 19.5 per cent.

The group said during April only 28 per cent of people buying a home were first-time buyers, well below the long-term historical average of nearly 50 per cent.