Bringing yet more good news to beleagured property investors is the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), who report a 26% rise in mortgages granted in July compared to the previous month.

This figure, totalling some £16bn, is still more than 30% down on the same period in 2008, but right now we're taking all we can get in terms of green shoots. The CML, however, are still predicting another slowdown in the housing market later this year.

In other news, retail spending rose 0.4% according to the Office of Natinal Statistics. This suggests consumers haven't been hit as hard in the pocket as they might have been. The annual gain in July is now 3.3% - it's highest point since May 2008.