These may be just straws in the wind but: The number of mortgage applications in the UK is up for the first time in over a year, particularly from first time buyers. The number of mortgage approvals increased in December over November, against the usual trend as nobody usually wants to move in December. House prices are still falling, but they do at the turn of the year due to lower demand, and could easily start to level off in the Spring as buyers realise that mortgage interest rates have reached an all-time low and they'll never see houses and flats this cheap again. But will anyone lend to them? Well the big banks are starting to lend again although smaller building societies are still hunkering down to preserve their deposits. The Government's loan guarantee scheme should help, as it takes the majority of the risk away from lenders. This will start to kick in in about a month as the lenders close their haggling process over the rate they pay for the guarantee. So are these straws in the wind or those pesky green shoots of recovery? The latter I think.