By then, if rates keep rising, consumer confidence could be at rock bottom.

Mr Styles also believes that it is only a rush to remortgage by some owners which has kept mortgage figures buoyant in recent months.

Says Gary Styles: "With bank base rate expected to rise to 5.75% in July, we anticipate total mortgage growth will slow to 10% by the end of the year from around 11.2% in May."

The Nationwide BS analysis for June reckoned house prices showed an average increase of 1.1% during the month - though agents around the country expressed surprise that the society could still show such a bullish figure.

Nationwide BS says the average house, selling at £184,700, costs more than £18,000 than its value a year ago. Owners have enjoyed a rise of more than £50 per day.

One leading agent Savills, claims price growth in Prime Central London areas like Knightsbridge and Belgravia has gone "off the boil" - while South West London areas like Barnes, Fulham, Putney-Richmond and Wandsworth have surged ahead to show 31% annual rises by the end of June.

Another agent, Knight Frank, claims Prime Central London rentals are also surging: hitting 12.2% on an annualised basis in June 2007, the highest rate since 1999. Biggest rises, topping 14%, were in Wapping and Canary Wharf.

Says Richard Donnell at Hometrack: "The buoyancy of the London market over the past 18 months has been a major driver of the headline rate of growth. Now, however, London is witnessing a clear turnaround in market conditions which is supporting the current slowdown."

The Building Societies Association (BSA), says that approvals at £4,739 million for May 2007 showed a marked reduction from £5,454 million in May 2006.

:: FIRST TIMERS STILL DESPERATE TO BUY

:: Please note: The Bradford & Bingley survey is embargoed until 00.01 hours on July 5.

Nearly half of all first-time buyers - 44% - must "put their lives on hold" and spend between two and five years gathering the deposit which enables them to buy, says the fourth annual survey of the sector from Bradford & Bingley.

Buyers only build the necessary deposit by "saying goodbye to carefree days of socialising and holidays," says the survey.

They also cut back on luxury goods, and going out to bars and restaurants - and even after this sacrifice, more than a quarter of first time buyers have to move into "less desirable areas" because they can't afford anything better.

Financial support from parents is also vital: 57% of buyers are helped by their parents' savings, and 11% buy properties jointly with parents.

Nearly a fifth of young first time buyers - 18% - actually move back in with their parents to build their "house fund".

One in 20 parents - 5% - actually remortgage their own homes to get their children on the ladder of home ownership - and 2% of parents pay for the property outright.

B&B also found that 79% of first time buyers are struggling with debts when they take out a mortgage - with nearly a fifth - 17% - owing more than £15,000, principally on credit cards and student loans.

"Clearly," says B&B, "nothing appears to dampen the desire to buy."

First timers are so desperate to buy that many don't even bother to haggle on price: 20% have gone straight in at the asking price, and 9% have offered more to get the property.

In Scotland, 45% of first time buyers have got involved in bidding wars or sealed bid situations. In London and the South-East, 29% of first timers have found themselves in this situation - while 36% of buyers in the North-East and 34% in the East of England go straight in at the asking price.

Says B&B's mortgages director Andy Wiggans: "With possible rate rises on the horizon, people have to be realistic about what they can comfortably afford and not get tempted into borrowing more than is sensible."

:: ARE AUCTION BIDDERS TURNING CAUTIOUS?

As the sales rate on some residential auctions in Northern England slump as low as 40%, it is clear a major rethink is emerging in the residential property auction market.

After a series of rate rises, borrowing charges are on the up. So bidders look to reduce bids when properties go under the hammer.

Estate Gazette magazine reports that some sales in Manchester, and elsewhere in Northern England, are seeing little over 40% of properties going under the hammer actually finding a buyer.

In the South-West, Graham Barton at Westcountry Property Auctions, whose next sale is on July 18/19, says: "I cannot fathom how lenders can produce figures to show house prices are still rising.

"So far as auctions are concerned, we find buyers have their fingers on the pulse, while vendors are usually about three months' behind.

"I ask vendors if they wish to stick to a figure which won't sell in our July sale, or do they want to come down? If we can't reach £100,000, do they settle for £96,000 or would they prefer to be looking after an empty property right through the winter, incurring council tax and heating bills?"

Mr Barton says demand remains strong for three categories of property - for refreshment (painting and tiling); refurbishment (kitchen/tiling) or full renovation (virtually a complete rebuild). But if developers cannot see a modest return on their efforts against a demanding guide price, they keep their hands in their pocket.

Barton's next sale, in Plymouth's Novotel Hotel in Marsh Mills on July 18/19, includes The Old Stables, with permission to create a two bedroomed home within 250 yards of the beach at the fashionable resort of Beer, Devon.

It's guided at £175,000-plus, for the potential to create a £400,000 home.

Owners of detached houses on large plots are also putting them on sale - hoping for a premium for developers who will either extend them, or knock them down and start again.

An attractive period house in Newton Road, Torquay, Devon, is guided at £475,000 - largely because a successful bidder can add pricey apartments in the grounds.

A detached chalet style bungalow in Pennsylvania, on the outskirts of Exeter, is guided at £385,000 - on the assumption a bidder could knock it down to create a luxury new detached home worth £850,000.

The former Manor Hotel just outside Bideford, with several cottages in the grounds, could fetch £450,000-plus from a bidder keen to break-up the estate, while a former Telephone Exchange with barely 260 sq ft of living space in a beauty spot at Mamhead, near Exeter, might fetch £35,000-plus.

Barton expects to sell more than 80% of his lots - because, he says, West Country buyers still have difficulties in finding homes to restore in the open market.

Another key indicator to the market is the latest series of sales from Countrywide: Manchester (July 12); Leeds (July 13); London (July 17); Birmingham (July 19); Bristol (July 25) and Llandudno (Aug 3).

Lots range from small cottages in North Wales, guided around the £50,000 mark, to Hanchurch Manor, a Grade II-listed manor house in 10 acres (including lake) outside Stoke-on-Trent. The main house includes six bedrooms, one of them formerly dubbed the Sir Stanley Matthews Room.

INFORMATION: Westcountry Property Auctions (0870 2414 343); Countrywide Property Auctions (0908 666 2468).

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