POLITICALLY 'the housing crisis' is as big a news story as ever.

We have seen a number of initiatives in recent years designed to help the situation but more importantly to gently move house prices upwards.

The initiatives have included Help to Buy, reduced Stamp Duty initiatives, the Governments promise to allow Housing association tenants to buy their property at a reduced price, relaxations to the planning system, a government promise to build a million new homes in the next five years, a new first time buyers ISA which attracts a bonus from the government...

The only sensible conclusion from all this is that the government wants to see more activity in the housing market itself, which then drives the associated economy - carpets, white goods, DIY etc.

House prices are likely to then rise, which brings more people back out of negative equity and more people are likely to get on the housing ladder, which contributes to housing improvements and to a general feel good factor - long term this wins votes.

The number of sale completions, where people actually buy a house, looks set to have ended the year at just under one million transactions, which is about five per cent points down on most predictions.

Many agents are still complaining about a lack of stock coming to the market, exacerbated by the number of new start-up estate agencies all looking for a slice of the market.

Despite this, or because of it, house prices are said to have risen by about 10.0 per cent in the rolling 12 months to December end.

On the bright side, the Bank of England is now suggesting that present interest rate levels will continue into 2017 and an increasing number of institutions are looking to grow their mortgage book so we can expect competitive rates to continue.

Locally Perry Bishop and Chambers report completions UP by about five per cent for 2015 and a healthy pipeline of sales.

The autumn market has been as strong as expected and there are still high numbers of buyers looking in our relatively buoyant economic area.

We also report house prices to be up about 10 per cent year on year with some minor deviations in the patch that we service.

Phillip Bishop said 'We were very happy with the strong autumn market which continued through December. Anyone thinking of moving house should be listing their property ready now for the new year. The busiest day of the year for buyers looking was Boxing Day so we already have a large number of new potential buyers registered with us expecting to receive Gold service.

Many of these new buyers have already decided to join Perry Bishop and Chambers and 'Make 2016 the year of the move!’