The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed.

With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007.

However, with unemployment in the UK reaching 8.4% in January, its highest level since 1994, the number of repossessions is expected to rise this year.

The number of mortgages with arrears equivalent to 2.5% or more of the mortgage balance fell to 159,400 at the end of last year, a decline of 7.5% compared with the end of the previous year.

The CML’s director general Paul Smee said: “Anyone worried about their finances should talk to their mortgage lender and take advice on their other debts as soon as possible.

“This will give them the best possible chance of staying in their home even if they have a spell of financial difficulty.”

The number of buy-to-let properties being repossessed increased by 25% to 5,900 in 2011, compared with 4,700 in 2010.

Housing minister Grant Shapps has announced a £20m ‘Preventing Repossessions Fund’ which will help people at risk of losing their homes.

Councils will receive £19m in cash to offer interest-free loans of up to £5,000 to homeowners who are unable to meet their mortgage payments.

Meanwhile, the demand for rented properties has soared to record levels according to a new survey by estate agency Countrywide.

Over 275,000 new tenants registered for private rental accommodation with Countrywide in 2011, 24% more than in 2010.

In August the estate agency received the highest number of tenancy enquiries since its records began.

The figures revealed that a growing number of families are entering the private rental market, especially in the North and South East of the UK.

The Government launches its NewBuy mortgage guarantee scheme in March, which will help house buyers by underwriting 95% mortgages on new-build properties up to £500,000 in value.

The scheme depends on having sufficient sites available to house builders and housing minister Grant Shapps revealed today that sufficient land for 80,000 properties has already been identified.

Mr Shapps said he is now working with the BBC, Network Rail, Royal Mail and public sector organisations such as HM Treasury and the Ministry of Justice to identify further unused sites for housebuilding.

He expects enough land for 100,000 homes to be released by 2015.

The NewBuy mortgage guarantee scheme is an extension of the New Build Indemnity Scheme which was announced in November.

The initial scheme was designed to help first-time buyers, but the NewBuy scheme extends this help to people who wish to move house.

Mr Shapps revealed a number of other measures to boost the housing market, including plans to devolve power from Whitehall to town halls and to allow councils to keep rents collected from council tenants and invest the money in their housing stock.

Councils previously had to surrender social rents to the government, which then redistributed the revenue, leaving some councils with less than half the amount they collected.

Speaking to housing sector organisations, Mr Shapps said: “I’m pulling out all the stops for those who want to get on the property ladder, so from March the NewBuy Guarantee scheme will be on hand to help people buying newly built properties with just a fraction of the deposit they would normally need.”

Nationwide Building Society is launching an advertising campaign to highlight its efforts to support first-time buyers.

The building society claims it is doing more than any other lender for first-time buyers by providing Save to Buy and limited liability guarantor mortgages, online guides to the mortgage process, discounted fees and by participating in New Build Indemnity Scheme.

The latest figures from the Land Registry show that house prices fell by 1.3 per cent in England and Wales in 2011, with the average property costing £160,384 in December.

Prices remained stable at the end of the year, with no change between November and December 2011.

The only place in England and Wales where house prices increased in December was London, where they rose by 0.8 per cent to an average of £345,298.

Over the year, property prices have increased by 2.8 per cent in the capital with estate agents reporting an increase in buyers from overseas who are exiting countries involved in the eurozone crisis, including Greece, Italy and Spain, in order to finder a safer place to invest.

Hartlepool recorded the biggest fall in property values in 2011, with an annual decline of 17.5 per cent.

For the north-east as a whole, house prices fell 7.1 per cent year-on-year in December 2011, more than any other region.

In the north-east the average house cost £99,000 at the end of the year.

The Land Registry also reported a fall in the number of completed sales in 2011.

Meanwhile, a survey by estate agent Rightmove suggests that 60 per cent of people who are moving house believe it is a buyers’ market, while just 13 per cent believe the balance of power is in sellers’ hands.

People in Scotland are most likely to perceive the housing market in this way and Londoners are the least likely.

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: “While parts of the stock-starved South, and London in particular, are feeling relatively bullish about prices, the turmoil of the last few years has wreaked havoc in parts of the buyer-blocked North.”

Rightmove’s ‘Consumer Confidence Survey’ was based on 32,111 online responses in January 2012.

The cost of moving house is 69 per cent higher than it was in 2001, according to Lloyds TSB, with estate agency fees, mortgage fees and stamp duty responsible for most of the increase.

A typical house move cost nearly £9,000 in 2011, £3,632 more than it did a decade ago.

Some regions have experienced an even greater increase, with house moving costs rising by 132% to an average £16,637 in the South East.

The cost of moving house in London has increased by 127 per cent over the decade due to higher home values.

Londoners pay an average of £19,544 to move home, making it the most expensive part of the country.

Moving expenses are now at their highest level since 2007 when the housing market peaked prior to the credit crunch.

In contrast, the cost of moving for first-time buyers has fallen over the decade because they tend not to pay estate agents’ fees or stamp duty.

It cost first-time buyers an average of £3,334 to move house in 2011, 63% less than a decade ago.

However moving costs for first-time buyers will increase in March when the stamp duty holiday ends on properties valued between £125,000 and £250,000.

The study suggests that the high cost of moving house is particularly concerning given the downturn in the housing market.

The latest HSBC Moving Home Survey identifies a “generational divide” in the housing market.

Many younger people are unable to afford to buy their first home because of uncertainty over jobs and because lenders are demanding high mortgage deposits.

At the other end of the spectrum, many older home owners are unwilling to sell in the current climate.

According to the survey one in 10 Britons would consider moving home or buying their first home in the next six months.

House sales fell 1 per cent in 2011, with just 869,000 residential properties sold, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

In January 2011, traditionally the weakest month for property transactions, just 45,000 houses were sold.

However, the market did improve at the end of the year, with 76,000 sold in December.

The property market has been in a slump for the last three years, with high inflation, high unemployment and stringent lending criteria making it impossible for many people to afford to buy their first home or move house.

Many first-time buyers are unable to raise the high deposits demanded by mortgage lenders, leaving them trapped in expensive rental properties.

Property sales in 2011 were around 50 per cent lower than they were in 2007, prior to the onset of the credit crunch and were nearing the record low level of 2009, when just 848,000 homes were sold.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders expects total lending to fall again in 2012, suggesting a further fall in house sales is likely.

Official figures released last week by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) revealed house prices fell by 0.3% in the year to November 2011.

The average UK house price ended the year at £205,796.

However, house prices increased by 0.7 per cent for first-time buyers and the price of new properties increased by 7.7% on average, compared with 2010.

The DCLG’s figures also indicated that the North/South divide in house prices is widening, with the North West experiencing the largest fall in property prices while the smallest was in the South East.

High inflation and rising unemployment are expected to lead to a substantial increase in home repossessions this year.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders expects a 22 per cent rise in repossessions in 2012 to 45,000.

The average cost of renting a home in England and Wales fell to £711 in December, 0.8 per cent lower than November’s average, according to LSL Property Services’ latest Buy-to-Let Index.

December was the second consecutive month in which rental costs have fallen, but over 2011 as a whole, they showed an increase of 4 per cent.

The impact of Christmas spending caused an increase in rent arrears, with 10.7% of all rent late or unpaid at the end of December 2011, compared with 9.3% in November 2011.

Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands and the East Midlands were the only regions where the cost of rents didn’t fall in December, compared with the previous month.

Even rents in London fell by O.9 per cent during the month, representing their first fall for a year.

However, on an annual basis, rents rose in all regions expect the south-west of England, and the north-east of England, in 2011, with London suffering the fastest rise with a 5.6% increase.

David Brown, commercial director of LSL Property Services said: “The seasonal relief continued for tenants as rents dipped again in December, but the drop-off was much smaller than a year ago”.

With demand for rented property continuing to increase, Landlord Assist today suggested that 2012 will be an excellent year for buy-to-let investors

Landlords will benefit from historic low interest rates and an easing of lending criteria.

Graham Kinnear, managing director at Landlord Assist, said: ‘There are few tangible investments at present which can offer growth, income and a positive hedge against inflation quite like the buy-to-let market.

Yorkshire Building Society today announced an easing of its buy-to-let criteria, including a reduction in minimum property value from £150,000 to £100,000.

Buy-to-let mortgages will now be available to borrowers as young as 25, compared with 30 previously and they will need to have a minimum income of just £20,000, compared with £35,000 previously.

Despite record levels of search activity on its website this month, estate agency Rightmove reports that the number of new homes being put up for sale has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded.

More than 44 million property searches were carried out on Rightmove’s site during the first ten days of 2012, a 27% increase compared with the first ten days of 2010.

However difficulties in obtaining a mortgage, the shortage of property on the market and a general lack of consumer confidence is deterring potential sellers from marketing their properties.

Estate agents are, on average, marketing less than one new property per week per branch and there are also fewer properties already on the market than there were in the same period last year.

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: “The market is stuck in a low transaction volume pit that will be hard to escape from without the mortgage funding to satisfy what appears to be strong pent-up demand.”

Rightmove suggests that first-time buyers with good deposits will fare best in the current market, along with house-owners with enough equity to trade up and people selling properties with a unique selling point.

The ‘losers’ in the current market will be people living in rented accommodation and sellers who are unwilling or unable to reduce the price of their property.

Recent news suggests that house-builders are benefiting from a resilient market for new-build properties.

Bovis Homes expects profits to rise significantly this year, helped by an increase in forward bookings of more than a third.

Overall completions in 2011 are expected to be up 8 per cent to 2,045 homes.

Galliford Try reported a 59 per cent increase in completed sales to 1,352 in the second half of 2011, compared with the previous year.

Although more new houses were put up for sale in December, transactions were hampered by sellers asking too high a price for their properties, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

December saw the number of houses put up for sale increase for the third month in a row, especially in London where new instructions reached their highest level since January 2005.

There was also a slight increase in new buyer inquiries but in view of the unrealistically high prices, surveyors’ sales expectations declined in comparison with November and are now flat.

RICS housing spokesman Ian Perry said: “The increasing number of prospective sellers who placed their homes on the market in December is a positive development, as a lack of stock has been a big issue in some parts of the country.

“But with sales expectations remaining flat, it is important that vendors are realistic in their pricing if they wish the sale to go through in good time.”

The recent fall in property prices continued in December, but it slowed to its lowest level since June 2010.

London was the only area where property prices increased.

A lack of mortgage finance is still holding back the market, with many prospective first time buyers unable to raise the high deposits needed to take their first step on the property ladder.

However, house-builder Persimmon reported a more positive outlook for the first-time buyer market.

The company said it expects its 2011 profits to rise by half and the improvement is expected to continue into 2012, helped by an increase in first time buyer interest.

“Whilst the general economic backdrop to the U.K. housing market remains challenging, we have experienced encouraging levels of visitors, resilient sales reservations, low cancellation rates and stable prices,” Persimmon said in the statement.

Mortgage lender the Halifax claims that house prices fell by 1.3 per cent last year to an average of £160,063, their lowest level since July 2009.

According to the Halifax House Price Index, house prices fell 0.9 per cent in December, compared with the previous month.

Although prices rose in the third quarter of 2010, they fell by 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, offsetting the earlier quarter’s increase.

The bank expects prices to be stable throughout 2012 unless the economy falls into another recession.

The report contradicts earlier figures from Nationwide, which suggested that house prices rose by 1 per cent in 2011.

Property prices have plummeted since the onset of the credit crunch, with banks and building societies exercising extreme caution over lending, making mortgages very difficult to obtain, especially for first-time buyers.

Recent research by property valuation website Zoopla suggests that some regions have fared significantly better than others when it comes to property prices.

Zoopla recorded an overall fall in UK house prices last year, but an increase of nearly 7 per cent in Scotland, where the average house now costs £164,844.

Zoopla’s research suggests the average house price in Britain is now £221,331, significantly higher than the Halifax’s figure of £160,063.

According to Zoopla the average price in England fell 0.75 per cent in 2011, to £228,926, whilst the average price in Wales fell 0.1 per cent to £153,826, compared with 2010.

Zoopla also reported a widening of the north/south divide in England, with house prices rising in London and the south-east, but falling in the north.

It suggests the average house price in London, where demand for property is high, increased 2.3 per cent last year to £416,890, while prices fell 5.8 per cent in north-east England to £156,659.

LSL Property Services, which includes Your Move and Reeds Rains, announced a 0.4 per cent drop in rent for a ‘typical’ property to £717 in November.

Rents have been rising throughout the year, driven by increased demand from people unable to afford to buy a propert and November’s decline marked the first fall in rent for 10 months.

However, although this represents a fall compared with the previous month, it is still 3.5 per cent higher than a year earlier and rents are expected to start rising again in the New Year.

LSL recorded significant regional variations in November, with rents falling in some regions, particularly the East Midlands where they were 2.2 per cent lower, but continuing to increase in Wales; Yorkshire and the Humber; the West Midlands; and London.

LSL director David Newnes said: “Landlords are looking to avoid having properties vacant over the Christmas period, and can be less aggressive with pricing as tenant activity slows in the run-up to the New Year.”

LSL also announced a reduction in the number of tenants in arrears with their rents.

This was attributed to ‘a changed tenant mix’ with an increasing number of tenants only renting because they are unable to afford a deposit on a house.

Yesterday zoopla.co.uk revealed that it is now cheaper to buy a home than to rent one in 47 out of 50 of the UK’s largest towns.

Zoopla also highlighted soaring demand for rental properties from people who are unable to raise the deposit needed to buy their first property.

Combined with low interest rates, this has made renting a home around 15 per cent more expensive than owning one.

In comparison, at the end of 2010 it was 10 per cent more expensive to rent a property than to buy one in 40 out of 50 of the largest towns.