The London housing market saw a 100% increase in activity in December according to estate agent Haart. London house prices increased by 1% in December, said the agency, and 3% in the last quarter leaving the average London property at £233,317. First time buyer levels also increased by 1%. Paul Smith, chief executive of Haart, said: The housing market has been readjusting over the past 18 months on the back of higher interest rates and price sensitive buyers. However now we are seeing higher levels of activity and house prices creep up, as confidence has started to return with a vengeance. We expect this positive level of activity to carry over to the first half of the year and as 12 month’s worth of pent up activity is released we expect prices to rise by 5% in the first half of the year. However we believe this level of activity will cool down towards the end of the year and the annual growth is set to be 2-3% for 2006.”