Buy-to-let standstill.

According to a new RICS survey published today, the buy-to-let market has ground to a halt.

The number of new landlords looking to rent properties stagnated for the first time since 1998. The latest letting survey cites current interest rates as the main cause for the market standstill, as it has deterred many new buy-to-let investors from entering the market.

With many prospective buyers waiting for the property market to stabilise, tenant demand has increased. Consequently rents are continuing to rise in all regions of Britain except the South East, with the Midlands and Eastern regions seeing the biggest gains.

Commenting on the new survey, RICS spokesperson, Jeremy Leaf says: "'Poor prospects on return and capital growth are keeping new investors out of the buy-to-let market although continuing healthy tenant demand means existing landlords are holding firm.

City of London office prices are poised to "soar", according to property group, British Land.

"We believe it is probable there will be a significant up-cycle in City property values in the next five years," said chief executive Stephen Hester who took over in November.

His comments came as British Land reported underlying pre-tax profits up by 17% to £174.8m. The company's share price ended the day up 17p at 882p.

About a third of British Land's portfolio is tied up in City offices with 20% in shopping centres such as Meadowhall in Sheffield and 13% in supermarkets.

The market for self-invested personal pensions is buoyant ahead of a change to the rules next April. Sipps are do-it-yourself pension wrappers that enable savers to invest in a range of assets, including property.

With so many people interested in property investment, there has been a huge increase in the number of people taking out Sipps. Standard Life estimates that around 16,000 new Sipps were opened last year and consequently the company has already raised more than £500m since it launched its first Sipp six months ago.

Accountants and advisers PKF claim that property development and investment businesses are not making the most of a 5% VAT relief available for some residential renovation or conversion work. Projects that involve changing the number of dwellings in a property, converting commercial properties into residential ones, and changing multi-occupancy properties into domestic dwellings are eligible for the relief, and there are also zero rates for certain work carried out on listed buildings where alterations have been approved.

Irit Herzenshtein, partner at PKF, said: "There are a number of reliefs for residential properties that builders, developers and surveyors are often unaware of. The rules may seem confusing but an understanding of them could save a great deal of money.

Government aims to help more first-time buyers.

Under a new proposal unveiled by the Chancellor Gordon Brown, thousands more first-time buyers will be helped on to the property ladder via government-backed, cut-rate mortgages.

The "shared equity" scheme, will allow up to 100,000 people to buy a home, by taking out a mortgage for between half and three-quarters of the price of a property, with the rest of the equity shared between the taxpayer and mortgage lenders. Buyers would then pay rent - capped at 3% - on the proportion of the home they do not own.

Speaking to the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme, the Chancellor said: "I think over the next parliament, with 100,000 benefiting from the shared equity scheme, we could probably have a million more home owners in Britain as a whole. And basically we are moving on to the next stage of our economic policy.