The forecast for the property market seems set fair for the new year, according to industry experts.

Major lenders believe buyers and sellers will be back in the hunt once Christmas is over.

Nationwide's Consumer Confidence Index bounced back nine points in November after three months of decline. It was the biggest leap since the monthly monitor was first published in July last year.

Stuart Bernau, Nationwide's executive director, said fewer people expect prices to fall.

"The general feeling among consumers is that prices will rise 3.1 per cent in the next six months compared with a forecast of 2.9 per cent in October and only 1.2 per cent in January."

The Halifax report which came out last weekend reflected the upbeat mood. According to the bank, prices rose 1.2 per cent across the country in November and increased 4.7 per cent in the past six months.

Locally based housebuilder Linden Homes is equally bullish. The firm's chief executive Philip Davies says he expects to see sold signs shooting up with the daffoldils as vendors come out of hibernation with more realistically priced homes. "Current levels of activity are likely to continue with a general lowering of price expectations among vendors underpinning a steady flow of transactions in the spring."

He welcomed Chancellor Gordon Brown's efforts to give first time buyers a leg up onto the housing ladder through shared equity schemes outlined in this week's pre-budget speech. However there was some dismay that the Chancellor has plugged the tax loophole which would have enabled wealthy homeowners to buy a second home and add it to their future pension portfolio claiming 40 per cent tax rebate along the way.

The regulations for Self Invested Personal Pensions which will come into force next April will now exclude investors buying houses outright, in the same way that the purchase of fine wines, antiques and racehorses for an individual's pension pot won't be allowed either.

Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants said they'd already predicted that the tax loophole would be closed "although those who have already acquired such assets to provide income for the future could now end up paying the cost."

However a spokesman for investment specialist Assetz pointed out that there will be nothing to stop investors putting their money in a Real Estate Investment Trust or other property unit funds. "You still won't pay tax if you buy a share in a property fund," she said. "You could say it's more sensible to spread the risk and invest in a fund that buys residential and commercial property. You won't be exposing your investment to the same extent if one of the sectors fares badly."

Final word this week comes from Hometrack. The database company is predicting prices will rise one per cent in 2006 and the changes to SIPPS won't have any impact on the market.