By Charlotte Beugge

November's home sales reached 85,000 – the highest monthly figure since July 2010 when 89,000 properties were sold. According to figures from HM Revenue & Customs, this is 6,000 more than in October and 9,000 more than in November last year.

However, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) says that housing transactions will fall next year from an estimated 852,000 this year to 825,000 in 2012 which according to a report in The Daily Telegraph would be the lowest sales figure since the CML's records began in 1978.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says there might be a small rise in the number of homes sold next year but said prices would struggle and could at best not move. 

Meanwhile, figures out today from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) say that gross mortgage lending was £8.2 billion in November, up a small amount on October's lending and 5% higher than in November 2010. If you take into account the increased level of capital repayments, as homebuyers sensibly take advantage of low interest rates to repay their loans, net lending was up by just £300 million.

The average value of a home bought in November was £146,400 – similar to that of a year ago. The BBA says that the increase in lending in November could be due to growth in the buy-to-let market as rental yields improve.