Estate agent Dacre Son & Hartley says it has seen a distinct improvement in the region's property market over the first four weeks of 2009, compared with the final quarter of 2008.

During January, the firm arranged almost 2,500 viewings of client's properties - four times the amount it achieved in December.

Ilkley-based Dacres has also seen an increase in the number of offers being made and what it describes as a "healthy" rise in the number of properties sold during January this year compared with January, 2008.

The news comes after figures from the Halifax showed house prices had unexpectedly risen by 1.9 per cent during January, ending 10 consecutive months of price falls.

The average home now costs £163,966.

And mortgage costs are set to fall further for many following the Bank of England's decision last week to cut interest rates by 0.5 per cent to just one per cent.

Dacres says one house in Roundhay, Leeds, sold within 24 hours of going on sale and another in Heaton, Bradford, sold for the full asking price within just 10 days of it going on the market.

Additionally, a property in Ilkley was the subject of an attempted "gazump" – where sellers accept an offer only to give back word once a higher offer is made - a phenomenon which the company said was normally associated with a booming market.

Patrick McCutcheon, head of residential at Dacres, said: "As house prices across Yorkshire fell between 10 per cent and 20 per cent last year, we have entered the New Year with many properties offering extremely good value for money and this is encouraging buyers back into the marketplace.

"We're confident that this momentum of improvement will continue this year as the recent steep interest rate cuts, combined with price reductions, will tempt even more buyers back into the market."

He added: "It's also interesting to see the number of high net worth individuals shying away from equities and deposit saving and actively look to build sizeable property portfolios instead.

"These buyers are now being joined by the more ambitious and the better funded 'buy to let' investors."

Dacres has set up a specialist division to handle such enquiries.

Mr McCutcheon added: "The property market in Yorkshire is recovering, but the improvement is fragile.

"The availability of mortgage funds and other lending remains crucial to the upturn of the property market and should be the Government's key focus in trying to secure continued improvement."