Signs of life in the housing desert

Another crumb of comfort for people trying to buy or sell their home, one which suggests that the housing market is not far off the bottom now.
The Bank of England says that the number of mortgages agreed in January was the same for the sixth month in a row.
Now, the amount of money handed over was still paltry. The number of mortgages is well down on what it was when the market was at its height.
But the fact that the number has now stayed the same for six straight months tells you the housing market is unlikely to fall much further.
It still won't leap back up. We need banks and building societies to agree more mortgages for that.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says that the numbers of people asking estate agencies about properties has been rising for three months now, which also supports the view that the market may finally get moving again if the money was available because people do want to move.
More money will become available in the coming months. Northern Rock (!) and RBS have pledged to increase lending.
I suspect other lenders will be waiting for two things: signs that the rate at which jobs are being lost is not accelerating (we're not there yet), and the Government introducing a scheme which insures them against some mortgage losses (that's on the way).
This isn't the end, and prices still have a little way to fall. But if the money makes an appearance then the desert that was the housing market may finally spring to life in the coming months.