The end of summer months proved to be simply an anomaly in housing, as the past few months seemed to have picked up in activity.  The Council of Mortgage Lenders recently released lending figures which paint a more optimistic picture for the beginning of 2013.  October saw almost 50,000 approved home loans.  This figure represents a 14% increase month on month and better than a 10% increase over the same time last year.  Remortgages are still struggling, but are stronger than a few months ago.

Paul Smee, director of the CML, commented on the current activity within the UK housing market, saying: "If the incremental improvements in house purchase lending that we are currently seeing persist as we expect them to, then next year should feel a more stable and positive year in the housing and mortgage markets.”

First time buyers are still experiencing great sorrow when the search for a property begins.  A 20% deposit is the minimum first timers are seeing in their research and with falling wages and inflation that figure has been difficult to produce.

Neil Ryner of Ryner and Partners commented on this potential roadblock to the house buying process, saying: "The huge number of aspiring homeowners will never be able to find this kind of deposit.”

"What we are currently seeing are the transactions of the privileged few."

Current homeowners are still privy to several attractive remortgage deals being offered by big name lenders.  This type of product is overlooked quite often due mainly to a lack of home equity or simply poor outlook in what is possible for a lending acquisition.