Ray Boulger, of mortgage broker John Charcol, says that he expects an 8% rise in house prices in 2014, based on the Halifax and Nationwide indexes. This would match the kind of annual increases seen at the end of 2013, which he admits would have been a surprise for anyone studying the market at the start of 2013.

He says that two schemes to stimulate the housing market "moved the goalposts" during the year. They were the Funding for Lending scheme, which offers cheap funds to lenders under the proviso that this is then lent on to mortgage borrowers and small businesses, and the Help to Buy scheme.

The former is being restricted to just small business lending, but the latter has been extended, giving borrowers access to mortgages if they are able to afford the repayments, but have little to put down as a deposit.

Mr Boulger says that there is no great shortage of funding. He predicts that this will be borrowed by people buying homes across the UK - not just in London, which drove the increase in average prices in 2013.

"There is a ripple effect, so next year, I do not see London as having the biggest regional rise in house prices," he says.