The last few months of 2004 have seen a definite slowing of the UK housing market. While analysts may not agree on the rate of that slowing (and whether it will continue), there is little debt that the conditions of the market are different to those seen earlier in 2004.

The real skill at this point in time is looking to the future and trying to see what the market holds. If any of us had a crystal ball, then seeing the future direction of the UK housing market might well be a nice money-making scheme!

As various analysts look to the future, they seem to draw differing conclusions. That's understandable, as there is so much data available right now and some of it appears contradictory.

The Nationwide Building Society have recently said that they see house prices rising in 2005 but at a much slower rate. Indeed, they predict that the average price of a home in the UK will rise by just 2% during the course of the year. Such a small rise would represent a bigs shift, considering the market that we've seen over the last few years.

Other analysts, however, are far more pessimistic and are prepared to predict that house prices will actually fall during the course of the year. Capital Economics, for instance, have consistently suggested that they see a fairly large decrease ahead. Their latest predictions suggest that prices may fall by as much as 7% over the next 12 months. Is that likely? Only time will tell.