From various conversations it seems to be that there will be a spike in lending during the final quarter of 2012, it is being credited to TRS availability, and many are saying that has brought forward demand but I don’t know it that holds true or not other than for buyers who would have been active anyway.

The Department of Finance was unimpressed when I suggested in the recent past that some kind of tax break on property would still be required going forward, oddly enough that did actually happen, the new property tax will come with a waiver for first time buyers, although this will never add up to the same benefit as TRS would.

We’ll have to wait until 2013 for the precise IBF/PWC lending figures but suffice to say, if the anecdotal evidence I am hearing from every lender in the market is true, then Q4 may prove to be the biggest lending quarter in 2012. Certainly it would keep the trend that you have a big Q4 followed by a quieter Q1, so keep an eye out, we’ll see if this prediction holds.