Introduction

2009 has been a year of two halves for the housing market.  It began slowly with a run of monthly price falls, and mortgage lending remained stubbornly subdued.

The UK housing market, however, is remarkably resilient. By May, the clouds were beginning to clear and by October our House Prices & Affordability Index revealed – to everyone’s surprise – that prices had increased by £6,000 in six months.

That’s quite a turnaround, although as our very busy research team – who produced two new price indices in 2009, including an enhanced Prime Index last month – have often pointed out, the pick up has been driven by cash-rich and equity-rich buyers at the mid to upper end of the market and has had a distinct London/South East focus.

But the recent recovery, if partial, has nonetheless been welcome – and it’s also had the knock-on effect of boosting the rental market. Indeed, FindaProperty.com’s Rental Index was the first to identify the recent drop in excess supply and the beginnings of a revival in rental values.

All of this no doubt explains why there was a palpable air of optimism at this year’s Negotiator Awards, an event which The Digital Property Group was very proud to sponsor for the second year in a row.

2010 will, we think, be another challenging year, but if mortgage availability continues to improve there seem to be certainly plenty of people keen to take advantage: traffic to our sites hit 4,246,367 in November, a 25 per cent increase on November 2009.

Converting this traffic into leads is, of course, crucial, which is why this month we’ve produced a new guide to help our customers to maximise their advertising.  We’ve also launched new products (User Notes on both sites, My Places on FindaProperty.com) to make life easier for our users.

So here’s hoping for continued improving conditions in 2010. Have a restful holiday and a very Happy New Year.