From recent experience, things are actually quite bad out there. I'll be going to work in the US for a year or so and was going to sell the flat. I had 2 different agents tell me not to put it on the market unless I had to. There are no buyers out there and prices have dropped considerably. For instance, our flat was valued at ?290k before Christmas and now it would likely fetch around the ?260k mark. We've decided to rent it out as that market is quite buoyant.