In the blink of an eye we are already well into 2012 now and whilst there are already some interesting things happening in the mortgage market, I suspect that there will not be much to say about changes in Bank Base Rate until the last quarter of this year at the very least.

The main topic for discussion will be around QE3, the £50 billion of further Quantitative Easing announced to assist the economy further, and whether the Euro will actually implode given Greece’s’ expected default in March.

However, things are rarely that simple and there is some positive news, not least the fact that January was undeniably busier than most Januarys I can remember in terms of the levels of enquiries coming through.

Importantly, the wider economy in the UK received a boost with The Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for services rising in January. This was the sector's fastest expansion in 10 months and flew in the face of those forecasting a further slowdown. This came hot on the heels of some other surveys earlier in the week which pointed to growth in the manufacturing and construction industries, which could give sterling a boost going forward if there is further evidence the UK economy is not doing as badly as previously thought.

In the property market, the issue is still around the levels of stock of decent property and we are seeing more clients than usual looking to employ the services of a property finder to assist, (we know a very good one if you need a recommendation).

Meanwhile, mortgage finance ironically looks like it is opening up further, especially at the higher Loan-To-Value bandings which is good news for first time buyers. There are now 17 lenders with products available at 90% LTV and even a few very competitive products at 95% LTV, starting at around 5.89%, (6.30% APR).

Whilst this may seem expensive given the low base rate, the reality is that a couple of years ago this was a decent 2 year fixed and historically speaking this is the type of product that should be affordable to many.

To help you keep in touch with the market moves we have our very own dynamic Best Buy table on our website.

This is a useful guide to assist you in seeing what is out there in the market place and can be accessed here Mortgage Best Buys as well as some very helpful mortgage calculators for you to play with Mortgage Calculators.