The latest survey from the RICS has pointed to an “encouraging” pick-up in the housing market.

The number of houses sold in the three months to February was the highest in about two-and-half years although the 18.6 sales per agent was still much lower than before the financial crisis in 2008 when sales were about 25 per agent. The RICS said the Bank of England’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) was starting to improve the availability of mortgages and to persuade prospective buyers to test the market. FLS is expected to be extended, or in deputy prime minister Nick Clegg’s words, “put on steroids”. Clegg and chancellor George Osborne want to see it skewed towards business lending rather than mortgages, howeer.