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Is the sun finally starting to come out for the UK property market we wonder – the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has revealed a consistent rise in the amount of interested buyers for the fifth month in a row and many of these enquiries are now turning into sales.

At the end of last month, Hometrack released figures that showed the decline in UK property prices was slowing down and HSBC claims that the property market is already showing slight signs of recovery and that the average Brit expects prices to start rising as soon as October 2010.

And when things do start picking up again, the recovery looks set to be fast and furious. According to bank First Direct, UK homeowners have £20.2 billion which they are preparing to inject into the UK housing market when the time is right.

More than four million homeowners are waiting for the property market to hit rock bottom before trading up to a bigger property and cashing in.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) carried out a national poll recently which showed that there has been a consistent rise in the amount of interested home buyers for the fifth month in a row, and sales have also picked up.

The sales to stock ratio has edged upwards for the third successive month to stand at its best level since August 2008.

More than 30 per cent of surveyors said that there had been an increase in the numbers of enquiries for March, especially in London. Newly agreed sales rose in March, as did the average number of sales per surveyor.

This could be partly due to the fact that people with savings in the bank are not making any interest and so are looking to put their money back into the property market.

But, despite all of this positivity, the property market continues to be slow to pick up and sales from last month were 53 per cent less than they were last year.

The problem seems to be access to mortgages. Ian Perry, a spokesman for RICS, said, “Buyer interest is starting to gain real momentum, but will remain frustrated while mortgage finance is scarce.”

Mr Perry added that the still fragile market might begin to stabilise in the next few months in response to the renewed level of enquiries.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) certainly thinks so – it has reported a four per cent rise in mortgage approvals for house purchases in February.
 
During the month, 24,300 loans were sanctioned worth a combined £3.1 billion.

The figure compares with 23,400 loans in January worth £3.1 billion but is around one-third of the average February total of 76,000 between 2002 and 2007.

First-time buyers typically put down a deposit of 25 per cent reflecting the tight lending criteria that are excluding the majority of potential first-time buyers.

CML Director General, Michael Coogan said, “Some large banks are making more funding available through enhanced lending commitments, which is helpful but will not satisfy consumer borrowing demand on its own.”