WOULD YOUR CASH BE BETTER IN THE BANK?

London and Outer London, by contrast, could end 2012 with prices up by 35% on current levels, with Kensington & Chelsea leading the way (35.4%). Outer London will be 28% ahead, with strongest areas including Richmond-upon-Thames (32.2%); Merton (31.7%); and Kingston-upon-Thames (29.4%).

So far as the Olympics effect is concerned, the survey suggests Hackney will rise by 30.5%, and Tower Hamlets by 32.2% - that's roughly 6% per annum, after rises of 4-5% pencilled in for this year.

Dragged forward by the capital, the South-East region shows a likely 19.1% rise along with Bucks (19.6%); East Sussex (18.3%) and Hampshire/Kent (18.7%).

In the South-West, 10% looks a norm by 2012 including Devon (9.9%); Dorset (9.8%0, Somerset (9.9%)and Wiltshire (10%.

North-East England is set for a virtually uniform rise of 14% by 2012 - with Hartlepool (16.5) Alnwick (16.9%) and Berwick-upon-Tweed (also 16.9%) among the 'hotspots'.

North-West England, by comparison, looks much quieter; Cheshire will only rise by 7.7% by 2012, including Macclesfield (9.5%) and is likely to see only an 8% rise by 2012.

Although Your Mortgage says that an extensive range of data is used to compute the figures, it is hard to escape the impression that population density is emerging as a key influence on future prices. They will rise fastest in areas which are the most crowded.

:: Latest House Price Poll of Polls analysis from agents Chestertons which crunches numbers from the other surveys says the average price of a home is £199,732; detached houses average 262,000, semis £164,000, terraced houses £136,000, flats £166,000.

Regionally, average house prices ranges from Yorkshire & Humber (£133,000); North-East (£134,000) and North-West (£138,000); East Midlands (£145,000) to London (£354,000); South-east (£231,000) and South West (£202,000).

Chesterton chief executive Robert Bartlett predicts falls of up to 3% nationally in the first half of 2008 followed by rises of 2/3% in the second half of the year.

Longer term, he says that "If the UK faces a harder economic climate, any house growth will be in the core areas of high employment where the most jobs are based and where there is the greatest pressure on local housing stock."

:: ARE SOME AGENTS STILL DODGING HIPs?

The Government finally extended Home Information Packs (HIPs) to one and two bedroomed homes from December 14, bringing the entire property market under the new regulation.

Since then, all homes should either come complete with a HIP, or at least have one under preparation. That should guarantee plenty of work - at last - for 3,600 Domestic Energy Assessors and 800 Home Inspectors trained to bring a new tier of bureaucracy to buying and selling property.

In theory, this should have triggered a surge in the production of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) detailing energy efficiency of homes, and how to improve it. Unofficially, it is believed around 35,000 HIPs were compiled in December, but this could hit 70,000 in January.

Or will it? Critics claim HIPs make owners reluctant to sell, and have slashed the number of homes on sale. HIP supporters blame the slowdown on the 'credit crunch'.

Now The Negotiator, the magazine for agents, suggests a new version of current events: David Lench, boss of the Arun Group of estate agents with 123 branches in Southern England, says some agents only order HIPs at the exchange of contracts stage.

Says Mr Lench: "In a number of cases, local Trading Standards Officers have found that some agents offering free HIPs are not commissioning a Pack until an offer has been accepted. By avoiding upfront costs in this way, they offer something for free which doesn't actually exist."

If he's correct, it means buyers couldn't care less about the HIP, and the Government case that buyers want to be much better informed before they bid is undermined.

However Trevor Kent, the Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire agent who has waged a relentless attack on HIPs, doubts this new claim.

"The law does require me to order a HIP before I start marketing a property and to have confirmation of the order from a HIP provider, either confirming payment or a credit agreement on behalf of the vendor", he says.

"If I don't do that, I risk prosecution and possible fines of £200 per day. I do not see this as a loophole in the law."

However, Kent confirms buyers take little interest in HIPs. "Some ask us not to send it to their solicitors, because they charge extra to read them and then commission their own enquiries anyway", he says.

Kent says the next big test of HIPs is on May 31 when it will become illegal to market homes without a completed HIP.

"When vendors realise that there might be a delay of 15 days, possibly more, after agents measure up a property before they can start selling it, some will hit the roof", he says.

However Jeff Smith, chief executive of HIP Payment Services, which enables agents to offer customers an opportunity to defer payment for a HIP until a sale is completed, claims HIPs are now widely accepted.

"As the market recovers into Spring, we will see a significant increase in numbers of HIPs produced", he says.

HIPs cost each vendor an average £420, including VAT, says Smith, though larger houses might cost £750. Few cost more than £500.

Jeff Smith accepts some buyers don't bother to read HIPs. "Once they get in the habit of expecting it, they will read it", he says. "Demand would be higher if they brought back the original concept of the Home Condition Report".

:: Home Information Packs should contain an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), contain advice on how to cut carbon emissions and fuel bills, a sale statement, plus local authority searches and evidence of title.

:: MOST LANDLORDS DECIDE TO IGNORE CREDIT CRUNCH

The worldwide credit crunch has almost sunk Paragon, a leading provider of Buy to Let mortgages which has announced a dramatic rights issue to avoid collapse - but it doesn't seem to be worrying landlords with large portfolios.

Latest quarterly review from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) claims four out of ten landlords surveyed intend to add to portfolios during 2008.

ARLA says landlords have pegged back borrowing in response to the crunch: they now borrow an average 70% of purchase price, against 74% in the previous quarter, and one in six borrows less than half.

On average, says ARLA, these investors expect to hold on to their properties for 16 years and seven months, a figure which has been fairly constant for three years. Predictions that many investors will try to cash in on the lower Capital Gains Tax rate (18%) from April 5 are not yet being confirmed.

All those warnings about paying too much for new properties are having little impact: ARLA says 7.5% of landlords reported buying off-plan in the last quarter.

Says Ian Porter of ARLA: "Buying off-plan flies in the face of continuous warnings from ARLA, and ARLA's mortgage lenders, that this kind of investment cannot make a realistic return as a Buy to Let investment."

ARLA claims that landlords who buy properties with cash can rely on an average rate of return of 10.8% per year. Geared up with a 75% mortgage, average return nearly doubles to 21.4%.

:: Alliance & Leicester says 87% of landlords regard managing a portfolio of rented properties as a profitable pastime, with only one in 25 seeing it as a full-time profession.

More than half of landlords - 57% - say they invest in Buy to Let to build assets for the future, fund retirement, or pay their children's university fees, rather than to supplement monthly income.

A&L says one in ten landlords (11%) say they will earn half or more of monthly income from Buy to Let.

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