Analysts expect the Bank of England’s base rate to remain at 0.5% throughout the year and although there will be weak economic growth, high unemployment and mortgage funding pressures there are a lot of positives as well.

They point to affordability in the market place, a low lending rate, low levels of forced sales and a long term supply and demand imbalance as being good points for the year ahead.

The average deposit is down 15% but the total number of first time buyers is at its lowest since 1974, according to the Halifax First Time Buyer Review which tracks housing affordability across the UK.

It also found that there is a major regional divided with 75% of areas in the North affordable compared to just 5% in the South of the country.

 The average house price paid by a first time buyer in November 2011 was affordable for someone on average earnings based on the ratio of the average house price to earnings being below the long term average of 4.0 in 44% of all local authority districts (LADs) in the UK.

This is the highest it has been since 2003 and compares with 42% in 2010 and just 5% at the peak of the housing market in 2007.

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The UK is the least affordable country, with 15% of gross earnings being spent on rent, compared to 12% in Spain and London is the priciest city, with an average monthly rent of £520, ahead of Paris and Milan.

And the research from Easyroommate.co.uk that looked at 33,000 British, French, Italian and Spanish rental properties also found that Glasgow and Birmingham are more expensive than Madrid or Barcelona.

The average rent paid for a room in the UK is £360 per month, some 56% higher than that in Spain, where the average room costs £230 per month, a difference of £129 per month. France is the second most expensive country for renters with an average room rent of £342 per month, followed by Italy, where rents are £282 per calendar month, 22% cheaper than in the UK.

At the moment squatting is a civil offence which means that that it is unlawful but not illegal. Once squatters enter a property, they can put up a formal notice in the window or on the door claiming ‘squatters’ rights’. In these cases the police are powerless to intervene and nobody can enter the property to remove them. The squatters therefore have free access to do as they wish with the property until they are formally evicted, often causing extensive damage to the fixtures and fittings. Currently, the worst thing facing squatters is that they may be evicted after a few days in the property! Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has made an announcement planning to make squatting criminal offence. This means that police will be allowed force entry and arrest anyone illegally occupying a property. Also squatters will be no longer eligible for legal aid. For many property owners the most common resolution is to go civil court to get a possession order to evict the squatters. However this is a costly and lengthy process which can take up to several weeks or even months leaving property owners with thousands of pounds in legal fees compared to the occupiers who have their legal fees covered by the government. This amendment also means that anyone found squatting in any residential property could face up to a year in a jail and/or a £5,000 fine. This change in the law will hopefully act as a deterrent to people thinking of squatting and will also give the power back to Landlords who will be able to take more appropriate action.

Many people/companies advise contents insurance, especially at this time of year, have you got contents insurance? Do you even see the need in having it? Or is it just another expense that you could do without?

Mostly buyers have been adopting a cautious approach and 2012 is likely to see nervousness continue although it may encourage more investors according to Philip Selway, managing partner of The Buying Solution.

‘I believe that 2012 will be linked inexorably to the economy. A volatile stock market does create nervousness, however, at the same time it can encourage investors to look to property because it is deemed a safe bet in the long term,’ he explained.

In the home Counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, South Oxfordshire and West Sussex, buying consultant Paul Frost, said that the north Surrey market has largely been driven by international money this year, in particular, Russian, Middle Eastern and Chinese buyers, mainly on the Wentworth Estate and St George’s Hill.

Meanwhile, there has been less activity above £2 million in the towns and villages that tend to attract UK buyers. There is still demand from buyers coming out of London, perhaps with the view to securing a property before the September 2012 school year, but there is not a lot on the open market.

In the Southern Region of the M3/M4 corridors covering Wiltshire, West Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset, Bobby Hall reports generally good activity especially in the £1 million to £2 million price bracket although some houses that were originally put on the market have only sold after dropping the price by 20%.

Some 72% of all respondents to the survey said they were positive about the future of buy to let, up from a figure of 67% in summer 2011, and 64% 12 months prior to that.

Landlords were also more positive about current demand for rental properties with 47% suggesting it is now better than six months ago, up from 43% in the summer, with a significant 88% now saying the rental income they receive is sufficient to cover their mortgage payments, management and maintenance fees.

CHL believes this is further proof of the growing demand for private rental properties and that rental yields for residential investment properties continue to increase.

Key Properties believe that these findings prove that for landlords already renting a property they purchased (or those thinking of doing so) the dividends they receive are now far more substantial than in recent years when landlords often found themselves in negative or neutral equity.

With a booming lettings market in the UK., the residential sector is once again attracting investors’ cash. This is particularly prominent with foreign investors who see the UK’s AAA credit rating as being especially attractive and the UK Government’s policies seen as more robust and safer in the long term than many other developed economies.

However the belief that the situation still persists is hampering the financing of much needed new development and compounding a serious shortage of apartments, reports property investment specialist Assetz.

The northern residential market underwent an enormous expansion of apartment building between 2000 and 2008, when the housing market was booming and finance was readily available. This resulted in an oversupply situation in cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham, despite the fact that demand for rental property in these regenerated cities was itself rising strongly.

However, demand is now far outstripping supply and forcing rents dramatically upwards as the lack of new development pushes city centres into a shortage of flats, Assetz has found.

It says that the rental market is exceptionally strong in the major cities, as restricted mortgage lending has left a whole generation of potential first time buyers with little prospect of buying a home.

This group is attracted to the concept of city centre apartment living, but tenants are finding themselves with very little choice available 

The above findings are all the more reason to be diligent and swift when securing your new city centre property.