Mortgage Solutions quoted us on the rising house prices over the last year:

Kristjan Byfield, director of Base Property Specialists, added: "The property market is hardly fluid, but it's hanging in there. The collapse many predicted has failed to materialise.

"What we are seeing is a sea change in people's relationship with property. More and more people are resigning themselves, and not even grudgingly, to long-term rentals. People's philosophies surrounding property have changed quite substantially.

"Rather than gear themselves up on debt, those people still aspiring to buy are saving and doing things the old-fashioned way. It may be a while before these people get onto the ladder but when they finally do the property market will be in a far healthier position."