Demand for houses in the South West rose at its fastest rate since summer last year, according to a survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
Despite this, prices continued to fall, although the RICS said the amount of homes coming onto the market also improved.
Whilst rent in the private housing sector reached another new high last month, the South West has bucked the trend, with rates dropping by 1.5% annually.
Demand for rental homes has rocketed in the last year as people struggle to get on the property ladder because they cannot raise a deposit or meet lenders' toughened borrowing criteria.
Although rents increased by 3.2% nationally to an average of £741pcm, rates in the South West fell to an average of £638.
The findings come a day after the Money Advice Trust announced that a record 12,000 tenants were struggling with arrears had contacted its national debtline this year - the biggest number in its 26-year history.
New figures have revealed the growing gap between what we're earning and how much it costs to buy a house in the West. According to the latest research, it's getting more and more difficult for people to get on the property ladder.
The hardest place to buy your first home is in the Cotswolds. Prices there have risen by eighty three per cent in the last 10 years, while wages rose by just five per cent.
The report from the National Housing Federation calls for a major building programme to improve the situation.
The cost of buying a house in the South West has outstripped average earnings by nearly three times in a decade.
Read the full storyProtests are being held in Taunton tonight against revised proposals to build hundreds of homes of the edge of the town. Two years ago residents fought a successful campaign against previous plans to develop the site known as the Vivary Wedge.
People in Bath can find out more about plans to redevelop the city's MOD sites later today.
Draft proposals to turn the sites at Ensleigh, Foxhill and Warminster Road into thousands of new homes were approved earlier this month.
Tonight a special consultation exercise is taking place at St Andrews church hall in Foxhill. More events will be held in May.
Controversial plans to build thousands of homes at East Coker have been given the go ahead. South Somerset council held a full council meeting earlier today to discuss the proposals and have now reached their verdict.
Residents are unhappy at plans to build thousands of homes in and around Yeovil. Residents opposed to the plans filled a council meeting today to try and get the proposals scrapped.
David Cloke, who lives in East Coker, say there is little support for the plans that could see homes built in the historic village.
Discussions by South Somerset District Council could go into tomorrow before a decision is reached.
Fifty members of the public are speaking at today's full council meeting in Yeovil. Many are upset that 2,500 homes might be allowed close to the historic village of East Coker. The Lib Dem led authority is considering plans to allow 16,751 homes in the district over the next 20 years.
Protesters have turned out in force to fight plans to build homes on the outskirts of Yeovil and parts of the village of East Coker. Residents came armed with banners to illustrate their opposition to South Somerset District Council's plans to build thousands of new homes.
