People thinking of getting on the property ladder need to consider their finances first, one expert warns.

Stuart Law, chief executive of Assetz, says this needs to be done sooner rather than later, with debt management companies able to help with those who are already in financial difficulties.

"There are more products available I believe than people think are available, which is holding up the market," the expert reveals.

Furthermore, he believes there needs to be an upturn in "people doing viewings and looking at properties" before the actual property transactions start to go through.

"I think by the summer we are going to see a substantial increase in actual transactions," Mr Law claims, adding that prices are now beginning to increase at property auctions.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Housing Market Survey March 2009 found that the seasonally-adjusted balance of surveyors reporting falling rather than rising prices deteriorated again slightly from 76.6 in January to 78.3 in February.

Although underlying activity remains weak, the turnaround in enquiries indicates that some level of buyer interest is returning to the market.