Zoopla research has suggests that homeowners are far more confident now than at this time last year about the future of the UK property market.

65% of property owners think that house prices will rise over the next six months, up from 55% one year ago. 19% of those surveyed expect house prices to fall during the first half of 2013, compared to 29% one year ago.

The latest Housing Market Sentiment Survey conducted by Zoopla.co.uk revealed that homeowners expect UK property prices to rise by 3.2% on average over the next six months. With the average UK property currently valued at £226,908 by Zoopla.co.uk that represents a predicted increase of £7,261 on the value of the average home over the first half of 2013.

However, homeowners remain downbeat about the availability of mortgages and on the whole see little sign of improvement in lending conditions. 85% of respondents said it was no easier now to get a mortgage than three months ago, with only 15% reporting that they though lending conditions had eased.

Property owners in London are the most bullish on the outlook for house prices in their local area with 84% of them expecting prices to rise over the next six months and predicting an average rise of 5.8% versus the national average of 3.2%. On the flip side, homeowners in Scotland are least confident at the moment, with only 57% predicting property prices to rise in the first half of 2013.

Lawrence Hall of Zoopla.co.uk said: “Homeowner confidence has re-bounded strongly from one year ago, with a significant majority now expecting to see house price increases over the first half of the year. While we are not yet back to the levels of post credit-crunch optimism seen in late 2009, the increased confidence bodes well for both market activity and pricing in 2013.

“The single biggest drag on both confidence and the market overall is still the availability of mortgage finance, or rather the lack of it.”