Estate agents will be heaving a sigh of relief today after a good week in the auction rooms. The first serious round of auctions this autumn took place yesterday and produced better than expected results. Of the 20 houses that went to auction this week, half were sold, either under the hammer or immediately afterwards. There were no headline makers, and no takers for houses over £1 million (€1.27m), but solid mid-priced homes managed to reach their guide prices and a little beyond. This will be a considerable relief not only to auctioneers but to vendors planning to sell up in the coming weeks.

The number of auction sales is well down this autumn, so oversupply won't be a problem. Meanwhile buyers are in a stronger position than for many years with interest rates set to fall to their lowest level for decades. There are also signs that vendors are at last acknowledging that the boom is over and if they want to sell, reserves must be at a realistic level.