January 2012 (Taken from Property Live.co.uk)!

Interest in UK property rose during December bucking previous winter trends, according to estate agents.

The market report for December showed an increase in the number of house-hunters registering with an agent across the country, from an average of 262 per branch in November to 294 in December.

In contrast in December 2010, demand for property reduced to 227, from 241 in November.

NAEA President Wendy Evans-Scott said: "It is pleasing to see that prospective house-hunters remained determined to continue their search for a home despite the slowdown we normally expect to see at this busy time of the year.

"While this has not currently converted into actual sales, which were slightly lower than in previous months, I remain confident that this clear demand for property will be met with sensible pricing of homes by sellers in 2012."

The number of homes available for sale decreased from 65 per branch in November to 62 in December, while the number of sales also decreased, from 6 per branch to 5 per branch on average, its lowest level in a year. This figure is the same as in December 2010 and a reduced level is what one would expect at this time of the year.

The percentage of sales made to first time buyers actually increased from 19 per cent in November to 21 per cent in December, although this figure is down on last year, when this part of the market held a 25 per cent share.

EPC Info

In order to ensure that people selling their homes continue to make an Energy Performance Certificate available to prospective buyers, we have also laid before Parliament the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 which introduce a number of new requirements including:

a new duty on the seller to secure that an energy performance certificate (EPC) has been commissioned before marketing of the property commences where no such certificate is already available

an EPC has been commissioned when a Domestic Energy Assessor has been instructed to prepare the EPC and the EPC has either been paid for or has given a clear undertaking to pay for it

a new duty on the person acting on behalf of the seller to be satisfied that an EPC has been commissioned before commencing marketing

a new duty on both the seller and a person acting on their behalf to make reasonable efforts to secure an EPC within 28 days

all of the new duties carry fixed penalties where somebody fails in the duty conferred on them by the new regulations