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Experts think that the number of repossessions in the UK in 2011 will be 40,000, but charities predict that numbers will reach more than double that amount once higher interest rates take effect.

Compounding the difficulties posed by lenders for people trying to get mortgages, there is new evidence that credit rating agencies are becoming the cause of further misery in the UK.

Instead of being an inoculation against measles mumps and rubella, the MMR this year stands for Mortgage Market Review, where the government (in the form of the Financial Services Authority) is taking a long, hard look at the mortgage system in the UK and deciding how it could be changed to prevent any future crises like the one we suffered in 2008, when the tax payer had to bail out Northern Rock and the Royal Bank of Scotland, among others.

A shared equity scheme worth £250 million was unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne in his 2011 Budget speech, restricted to first time buyers and newly built properties.

The government’s spending review, along with sliding house prices, has dampened demand for mortgages to its lowest level since the third quarter of 2008 – which was the lowest rating on record.

Interest rates will rise in 2011 and carry on rising into 2012, according to a new report from the Confederation of British Industry, which predicts that rates will go up by at least two per cent by the end of 2012. This will add almost £200 to an average monthly payment.

After nine months of growth, Britain’s construction industry took a cold weather dip, as outdoor work became treacherous in the icy conditions.

Property values in Kensington & Chelsea and the City of Westminster rose by 0.7% and 1.5% respectively during November.

In the season of good cheer, let’s try to ignore drooping house prices and stingy lenders, and turn instead to all the good things that have happened in the property world this year.

According to the latest figures from the Young Group, based on a survey of the group’s 500 property investors and landlords, sentiment in the private rented sector remains buoyant and there is a positive outlook for 2011.