John Elliott, managing director of Millwood Designer Homes, offers a few home truths about the state of the property market

I feel passionate about misinformation concerning the housing market and I seem to be forever pointing out the negative effect of news items predicting doom and more recession.

This was compounded recently by reports of a 3.6 per cent drop in house prices by Halifax compared with a 0.1 per cent rise by Nationwide for the same month.

What these reports do not explain is that the figures are based purely on transactions recorded by the individual financial institutions or estate agents, and therefore do not represent an accurate or true picture of what's really happening nationwide or, perhaps more importantly, in your own region.

Similarly, December's house price index ranged from a 0.4 per cent rise by Nationwide to a massive three per cent drop by Rightmove. So what should we consider as an accurate indication of the property market?

The truth is that no one has the answer: all we can do is speculate on past figures and trends while taking into account any foreseeable economic or political factors that may influence public sentiment.

After witnessing the worst global recession since the 1930s, many potential buyers have opted for the 'wait and see' approach, reluctant to believe that the worst was finally over with many thinking that a double-dip was on the cards.

But 2010 remained fairly uneventful, generally witnessing a slow, steady climb in house prices throughout the year with only marginal dips.

I expect to see this uneventful scenario continue for most of 2011. Further dips in house prices are inevitable but I believe these will be fairly modest, nothing like the dramatic slump of 2008 to 2009.

In fact, economic forecaster the CEBR, believes that we will see a modest rise in house prices this year, thanks to a likely fresh round of quantitative easing, predicting that they will go up 2.2 per cent in 2011 and 16 per cent by 2014.

I think, most importantly, when asking yourself whether you should be moving or buying a property in 2011, you should listen to what your heart says.

Don't rely on the press as it isn't always accurate and they only seem to print the bad news because good news is 'no news', where the property market is concerned.

You can speculate until the cows come home, but you should really only be asking yourself one question, 'Is this the right time for me to move'?

As long as you are doing it for the right personal reasons, then nothing else should really matter.

BLOB Millwood Designer Homes has a range of properties throughout Kent. For details call 01732 770991 or visit http://www.mdh.uk.com/