text: A. One of the problems with viewing the UK property market as a whole, of course, is that there is always so much regional and local variation as to render any talk of “national averages” virtually meaningless. Nevertheless, there’s no getting away from the fact that overall it has been quite a challenging year, and particularly so for first time buyers. Hence the various schemes devised by the Government to try and kick-start that end of the market – although the beneficial effect of these measures will be somewhat blunted by the ending of the Stamp Duty holiday for those purchasing properties between £125,000 and £250,000, due in March.
  On the other hand, with increasing demand driving up rental values across the country – set against a background of low returns on savings and lacklustre performance by many of the traditional alternatives – the upsurge of investor interest in bricks and mortar has continued apace. As a result, the absence from the market of first time buyers has been offset to a considerable extent by steady growth in the buy-to-let sector.