The department of Communities and Local Government's (CLG's) latest house price data reveal that January enjoyed a ninth consecutive month of price increases.

According to the CLG, average property values increased by 2.2% between December and January and 6.2% annually, to stand at £207,159.

The average figure broke down into a 6.6% rise in England, 7.1% increase in Scotland, 1.3% improvement in Wales, but a fall of 13.7% for Northern Ireland.

First-time buyers paid 8.9% more than a year ago for property, while former owners paid just 5.2% more.

David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, welcomed the figures, saying:

“Instead of speculating on prices like many other indices the CLG figures show us exactly what took place in January. The figures show that those with the propensity to buy – like professional landlords – are making the most of market conditions and beefing up their portfolios.

“We will be in for some upheaval over the election period as buyers wait to see who’s holding the reigns of power come June and what legislation and tax implications there may be. But we’re confident that we’ll end the year with slight growth in the housing market.”

However, others are more circumspect. Catherine Penman, head of research at property consultancy Carter Jonas, said:

"Another month, another price rise, but these figures provide a somewhat distorted picture of a housing market that still remains in a precarious state. Even a small percentage rise in interest rates in the coming months could see a seemingly stable house of cards come tumbling down.”

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According to the February FindaProperty Rental Index The supply of properties available to rent fell by 3.6% to the lowest level since November 2008, this would be a result of people who could not sell and had to let their properties have been able to sell now and ten of the eleven UK regions experienced a monthly increase in asking rents. Following two months of declining values, asking rents increased from £804 pcm in January 2010 to £814 pcm in February, an increase of 1.2 per cent.

Philip Suter of jml-property-insurance.co.uk who has been a Landlord for over thirty years, said ” it is good very good news that rents are now recovering again, however landlords should still remember that tenants can get into financial difficulties and consider very strongly taking out Legal Expenses Insurance and Rent Guarantee Insurance.”

Philip went on to say that there are a number of well known Landlord and Tenant insurance providers advertising on our web sites including HomeLet, Letsure, Simple, Endsleigh and Rentguard who are offering Rent Guarantee products.”

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Rents increased 1.2% in February following two months of decline over the festive period and New Year, according to the FindaProperty.com Rental Index…

Long-term landlords and buy-to-let investors who have held onto their properties during the downturn will be relieved to see the fortunes of the rental market reversing, as "accidental landlords" return to the sales market. The resulting reduction in stocks is pushing up asking rents as tenants compete for the remaining properties.

The average UK asking rent now stands at £814pcm, £10 higher than last month’s low of £804pcm. However rents remain 1.9% lower than a year ago (£830pcm). The increase in rental values can largely be attributed to tightening supply, with the number of rental properties available on the market declining 3.6% in February, to the lowest level since November 2008.

Ten of the 11 UK regions experienced a monthly increase in asking rents in February, while rents in the South West remained stable at £797pcm. The northern regions recorded the highest increases, with rents in the North East rising 5.5% to £619pcm, followed by Scotland (2.5%) and the North West (2.3%).

Nigel Lewis, property expert at FindaProperty.com, said: "Landlords have been hunkering down over the past year and a half as – on average – rents and property values have dropped.

"But it looks like the wintery economic conditions may be easing now as accidental landlords exit buy-to-let, so the market is no longer awash with a surplus of property to rent. If this tightening in supply continues landlords may enjoy a further recovery in rents over the course of the year."

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Buy-to-let investors looking for the best returns should look outside trendy hotspots, with many less fashionable areas delivering far better returns, a study shows…

A report into the Top 100 towns for buy-to-let yields, compiled by property listing website FindaProperty.com for This is Money, shows that Blackpool is the postcode delivering the best returns in the UK.

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The total number of mortgage deals currently on offer has topped 2,000 for the first time in over 12 months.

According to data compiled by financial information provider Moneyfacts.co.uk, there are now 2,003 different mortgage products for borrowers to choose from.

Mortgage lenders have introduced more than 400 new deals since the start of the year, including increasing numbers of offers at higher loan-to-values (LTVs) than were previously available.

The last time there were this many mortgage products on the market was December 4th 2008, but lenders withdrew hundreds of tracker deals overnight after the Bank of England slashed the Base Rate by 1% to 2%.

Moneyfacts hailed the improvement in mortgage supply as further evidence that competition is coming back to the UK mortgage market, albeit gradually.

Now that property prices have been rising for a year, lenders are also being less stringent when it comes to their lending criteria.

More and more are entering the 90% LTV space, which is encouraging for first-time buyers in particular.

Moneyfacts records that there has been a 38% increase in the number of mortgages available to buyers with a deposit of just 10% since the beginning of the year, while deals for people with a 20% and 15% deposit have soared by 58% and 28% respectively.

There have even been two mortgage deals launched at 95% LTV, taking the total number of such products available to 11, although the interest rates charged are relatively high and borrowers need a squeaky clean credit record to qualify.

Before the credit crisis struck in summer 2007, there were more than 1,000 mortgage deals available at 95% LTV.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates are continuing to fall slightly, with the average cost of a two-year fixed-rate deal dropping by 0.1% to 4.78% since the beginning of the year, the cost of three-year fixed-rate loans falling by 0.2%, and five-year deals dropping 0.12% on average.

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