The UK housing market experienced a relative increase in activity in the opening month of 2011. NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents) members reported a rise in demand amongst house hunters and also an improvement in the number of offers from sellers – signalling a recovery following the traditional December slump but largely still in line with figures reported at the same last year.

Although the percentage of first time buyers (FTBs) decreased slightly from 25%t o 24%, the number of house-hunters registered per branch increased on average from 227 in December to 252 in January.