It's taking time but the housing market seems to be slowly bubbling back to life.
This time last year the world was in economic turmoil, prices were dropping and disaster seemed to lurk behind every corner.
But a flurry of recent data from various sources suggest that while we're not out of the woods yet we do seem to be making progress.
Indeed, data from the Land Registry's House Price Index, published last week, shows a rising market with a monthly house price change up of 0.9%. While not a big increase on August's rise of 0.5% it certainly seems to be a step in the right direction as confidence ebbs back.
The annual drop of 5.6%, up from a low of minus 16.3% in February, takes the average house price in England and Wales to £158,377.
London led the way in house price gains, with prices up 1.3% and the average property price in the capital now standing at £314,954.
Elsewhere in the UK all regions experienced a decrease in their average property values over the last 12 months.
Again the North East has been hit the hardest, with an annual price fall of -8.2%. And Neath Port Talbot experienced the greatest annual price fall with a drop of 18.7%.
Overall the picture is better than it has been. The Land Registry data is another indicator that is showing the housing market in recovery.
It's certainly no time to crack open the champagne though.
Higher house prices mean people will need higher mortgages and lenders don't appear to be relaxing their lending criteria just yet, although they are becoming more competitive for the right customers.
The Land Registry data also sits well alongside figures from Nationwide which last month reported prices were up for the fifth month in a row.
Still, it unnerves me when people start to talk about economic recovery alongside house prices as it just doesn't feel like we're quite there yet.
All the City pundits were predicting we would be out of recession this quarter and then shock figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that Britain is experiencing its worst recession since the mid-1950s.
Rather than positive growth the ONS figures showed a 0.4% fall in gross domestic product in the third quarter of the year. This really is quite something and to quote the Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor Vince Cable a real "cold blast of reality".
Quarterly records of GDP go back to 1955. Since that time, there has never, until now, been six quarters of contraction in a row. Times are indeed dire and so while the economies of both France, Germany and the US power ahead having weathered the storm, the UK is languishing in its role as the sick man of Europe.
What's been quite interesting of late though is the number of estate agents that I have spoken to that seem to be enjoying a return to business.
They genuinely believe that we have turned the corner and are well on our way towards recovery.
But I'm not so sure. People may still be buying property and prices slowly increasing but it could well be a false spike.
All of the other anecdotal evidence points to parents and relatives shelling out vast deposits for their children to purchase homes while prices have supposedly bottomed out.
That being the case then current house price increases will not last forever and a further downturn seems almost inevitable as the market bubbles forward.
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