A new survey conducted by Bradford & Bingley reveals that Nine out of ten first-time home buyers are still struggling to afford the property they desire. As many as 43% say that they are still struggling to save enough for their initial deposit, despite cooling house prices. While a third (31%) of recent buyers, admitted that they had failed to negotiate a lower sale price.

Duncan Pownall, mortgage development manager for Bradford & Bingley says: "The fact that a third aren't negotiating anything off the asking price doesn't help their situation."

"They need to realise that without a property to sell they are in a strong bargaining position... and should use this to their advantage. It could save them thousands of pounds."

According to a poll by property website myhouseprice.com, house prices in rural Scotland have soared over the past year by up to 35%.

North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire were among the top 10 areas with the highest house price growth over the past 21 months. Motherwell recorded the second highest increase in property prices this year at 35%, followed by Clydebank at 32%. Airdrie recorded a 30% growth and house prices in Bellshill rose by more than 19%.

Website director Dan Cookson said a combination of new building projects in towns and high city prices was encouraging more people to opt for a longer commute.

Home loan approvals up.

The number of home loan approvals climbed to a seven month high in March.

The Bank of England said approvals for house purchase - loans agreed but not yet made - rose to 91,000 last month from an upwardly revised 86,000 in February.

"You'd be hard pressed to say that the housing market is spiralling down. If anything it may be stabilising and showing signs of a bounce," said Geoffrey Dicks, UK economist at RBS Financial Markets."

Rental yields up again.

Average rental yields have risen once again from 6.8% to 6.9% according to the latest Buy-to-Let Index from Paragon Mortgages.

Yields rose across most parts of the country: London (3.9%), East Anglia (8.2%), the East Midlands (5.9%), the North (2.1%), the North West (0.8%), the West Midlands (0.6%) and Yorkshire (0.4%).

John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, said, "This month, rising yields in London and East Anglia have driven an overall increase in yields across the country. Over the last five months we have seen a sustained firming of yields in Greater London - which is good news for landlords in and around the capital."

Over the past year UK buy-to-let landlords in Yorkshire and the North West have benefited the most due to a combination of capital appreciation and rental incomes. A buy-to-let investor who purchased an average property twelve months ago would have generated a total return of 76.4% in Yorkshire and 42.7% in the North West. The average total return across the whole country is 21.3%.

Countrywide, Britain's biggest estate agency, has revealed that it is currently selling up to 30% fewer homes than this time last year. Countrywide, which owns the Bairstow Eves, John D Wood and Mann & Co estate agency chains said it would make a loss for the first quarter of this year.

Chairman Christopher Sporborg said the group had "made quite a lot of profit, around £14m before tax" in the first quarter of 2004.

But the volume of transactions between January and March this year was down between 25% and 30% on the previous year and "considerably less than one would expect".