This time last year, it was dark, cold and wet. The summer had been a disaster, business had struggled under a double whammy of the poor summer and Olympic Games, starving Cumbria of visitors.
We had seen a glimmer of a revival in the property market, but this stalled in the snow and ice of January.
This autumn has seen the market return, quality stock shortages and the renewed availability of mortgages is starting to lead to upward price pressure.
So my hopes for 2014? Let it continue but with caution so the market does not become overheated and the Government steps in and kills it with their big size 14s.
Stephen Holland, head of residential sales at the Kendal office of Carter Jones estate agents
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